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A CHRISTMAS GIFT 



TO THE AMERICAN HOME 
AND THE YOUTH OF AMERICA 



BY 

N. P. GRAVENGAARD 

m President Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church of 
America. Author of "Eternal Life and Ever- 
lasting Joy" and "Lectures." 



TRANSLATED FROM THE DANISH BY 

G. S. STRAND VOLD 




BOSTON 

RICHARD G. BADGER 

THE GORHAM PRESS 



Copyright, 1920, by Richard G. Badger 



All Rights Reserved 



Made in the United States of America 



The Gorham Press, Boston, U. S. A. 



&T Transfer 

MAf. 7 1921 



INTRODUCTION 

'"PHE present volume is a translation from the 
■*• Danish language of one of Rev. Mr. Graven- 
gaard's books which in its original form has at- 
tained a success among Danes in the United States 
and Americans of Danish descent which is quite un- 
precedented in the annals of Danish immigrant lit- 
erature, secular and religious. The book has passed 
through two large editions and has even found wide 
reading in far-off Denmark. 

The work of rendering this volume into English 
has been a source of unlimited joy because of the 
clarity of the author's message; the form in which 
he has clothed his thoughts, and the immediate 
humanistic touch evident from beginning to end. 
It is the hope of the translator that an equal meas- 
ure of satisfaction and delight may accrue to the 
public who now for the first time may enjoy the 
opportunity of becoming familiar with Mr. Graven - 
gaard's writings in the language of the United 
States. 

The Translator 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Christmas Thoughts 9 

1. The Christmas Angels: Dost Thou Remember? 9 

2. Room for Jesus 10 

3. Well-Springs of Joy 13 

4. To Join in the Song 15 

5. The Joy of Understanding 18 

6. The Faith of a Little Child 21 

Thoughts for the New Year 24 

1. To See Like the Angels 24 

2. The Hidden Life 28 

The Worth of Your Soul 32 

That Which Is Hidden Shall Be Revealed . . 36 

Not in Word, Neither in Tongue 39 

Seest Thou This Woman? 42 

What About the Devil? 45 

Two Episodes of The Civil War 49 

1. Looting Those Who Fell 49 

2. Removed Because of Mischief 51 

Your Words 55 

Behind the Shield . . . 59 

Love Me — andTellMeSo! 66 

To Bear Burdens 71 



Contents 



PAGE 

Be Steadfast in Prayer 74 

1. A Gain and a Protection 74 

2. What Mother Taught Me 75 

3. The Evening-Prayer: A Protection .... yy 

4. The Morning-Prayer: A Gain 80 

Zacch^eus 84 

1. To Be Home By Oneself 84 

2. All Forgiven — Nothing in Vain 87 

3. During the Following Days 89 

The March of Events 92 

The Little While 97 

The Miracle in Our Age 105 

1. The Miracle and Nature 106 

2. The Miracle and the Church of the Lord . . 111 

America — You Are the Hope of the World To-Day 119 



RELIGIOUS THOUGHTS FOR 
EVERYBODY 



A CHRISTMAS GIFT 

CHRISTMAS THOUGHTS 

I. The Christmas Angel's: Dost thou remember? 

T WAS sitting in my study. Darkness was gath- 
•*■ ering, and it was Christmas Eve. Then it was 
as though a kind and soothing voice whispered into 
my ear: Dost thou remember Christmas Eve at 
home? 

Do I? — Indeed, I remember it as it were but 
yesterday. I remember so plainly how we, all finely 
dressed, gathered at the long table. There father 
was sitting at one end reading aloud from the old 
hymn book while we all listened, our hands folded. 

At the other end of the table grandmother was 
sitting, and I next to her, for I was "Grandma's 
boy." The old brass spectacles were sitting astride 
the very tip of her nose so that I could not quite 
grasp whether she peered through them or merely 
glanced above them. 

When father had finished reading, grandmother 
spoke up — she wanted us to sing now this Christ- 
mas carol, now that; she had sung on Christmas 
Eve for so many, many years that she could lead us 
in singing them. Her voice — well, it was old, for 
she was past eighty, but if you say it wasn't fine, 



io A Christmas Gift 

then you surely are no good as a judge of grand- 
mother's voice. 



Mother — do I remember her? Indeed, I never 
forget her. Gentle and quiet she sat at the table, 
slightly pale, her cheeks somewhat haggard. Her 
mother-eye wandered from one to the other, resting 
on each of us with a wealth of love. It was a 
strange look that came from those eyes surrounded 
by dark edges — it was so filled with love and wist- 
fulness. 

Then came that Christmas when her chair stood 
vacant. O, yes, I remember her so plainly. It was 
quite near Christmas when she closed her eyes, and 
her last words to us were: ''Follow Jesus!" 

Yes, I remember it all, but — O, wait just a lit- 
tle — it was only that — if tonight you visit those dear 
ones at home, tell them then that I remember it all. 
And tell them that we also — despite the struggle 
for money and the increasing lack of veneration for 
ancient Christian festivals — tell them that we also 
celebrate Christmas both in our home and in the 
church. 

Thus I sent my Christmas greetings carried on 
the wings of the angel. 



2. Room for Jesus 
(Luc. 2, 7) 
"There was no room in the inn." 



Christmas Thoughts II 

No, neither was there room in the golden 
regal halls in Jerusalem nor in the palace of the 
high priest. Therefore the angels — those heavenly 
messengers — came to neither the inn nor Jerusalem. 
It is not with the angels as with the invader's 
hordes in Belgium — they do not intrude upon for- 
eign soil, sword in hand. They are the messengers 
of peace, and visit only those who have room for 
Jesus. 

And here we behold first of all the shepherds on 
the field near Bethlehem. In their hearts there 
was room for Jesus; the sweet music from Heaven 
above found the way open to these men. 

They had been sitting out there watching how old 
and young flocked to the City of David to register 
on the tax list. It must have been a sore trial for 
them to think how God's people had come under a 
foreign yoke: Wasn't, then, all hope dead? Were 
not the living conditions of Israel so desperate; the 
people themselves so harassed that it must needs be 
impossible for God to fulfill His promises from the 
ancient days of yore? They bent their heads, sigh- 
ing heavily. 

But the sigh soared upward. 

Thus they sat in the stillness of the night, bent 
under the sufferings of the age, as in former days 
Israel sat at the rivers of Babylon: Nobody dared 
play the harp! Nay — who would really be able 
to let the harp chords burst out in a song of joy — 
under such conditions'*. That would have been al- 
most levity. 

But the sigh had ascended up high, and the 
Angel stood before them saying: I can! I can 



12 A Christmas Gift 

make the harp play a song of joy. I come from 
the mansions of Heaven with a cheering message: 
"Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of 
great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto 
you is born this day, in the City of David, a 
Saviour, which is Christ the Lord " 

And then the first of all jubilant Christmas hymns 
was borne upon the pure lips of angels and carried 
all over the earth. That was the sweet music from 
Heaven which shall never die. 

It shall sound for all those who sit in misery, or 
who sigh because of their poverty — for those who 
think that their life has become so turned upside 
down that nothing can ever be righted again — for 
those who sigh: No, under such circumstances 
we cannot sing the cheery songs. To all these it 
shall be said: It is not impossible, at all! It 
doesn't matter so much how your living conditions 
are, difficult or easy, dark or bright, nor how dis- 
rupted your life may be. What does matter, is 
whether or not you have room for Jesus. 

You say : Alas — if He only would, but 

Remember, my dear, that at one time He was 
satisfied with a manger and with a cross. While on 
the cross He said to a miserable malefactor: "To- 
day shalt thou be with me in Paradise." And on 
another occasion He said to a woman taken in adul- 
tery: "Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no 
more!" 

Fear not! 

That was the first tone in the music from Heaven, 
and it was meant for you, also. Indeed, He will 
abide with you, too, when you will give Him room 



Christmas Thoughts 13 

in your heart. Also you He will save into His 
heavenly realm. But, then tell me: Isn't there, 
even considering your wants and circumstances, 
every reason why you should sing a Christmas 
hymn with joy in your heart? 

It was not levity that made the angels sing 
jubilantly that Christmas Eve: They had beheld 
that which had been prepared for mankind through 
the love of God our Father. Therefore, they could 
sing the jubilant songs. 

So, try then to look beyond all the despair down 
here. Try to raise your eyes to the bright Heavens 
— to that which has been prepared for you through 
the love of God our Father. If it does happen, 
nevertheless, that once in a while you bend your 
head downward, then let the sigh soar upward — 
for it may thus happen that angels will visit you. 

Therefore it shall be proclaimed loudly by the 
church of Jesus Christ — from the city on the moun- 
tain throughout all the lands of the earth — to all 
those who have room for Jesus: Fear not! It is 
never so dark in your life that there is no room for 
the joyful songs of Christmas! 



3. Well-Springs of Joy 

Well-springs of joy! 

It does sound a bit strange that a babe on 
the knee of a virgin might be the well-spring of 
joy. Ordinarily, it is a well-spring of worry and 
tears when a virgin sits with her babe on her knee — 
worry and tears for herself and for those who are 



14 A Christmas Gift 

related to her. But here we behold a virgin who 
herself has sung the joyful hymn of praise be- 
cause she had been found deserving of such grace. 

Well-springs of joy it was to Mary and to the 
aged Elizabeth from the very beginning — and now 
the Christmas Angel announces that it is "for all the 
people." 

But, someone may say to us: Yes, we know that 
the shepherds were happy and that joy reigned in 
the inn, and we also realize that you speak of 
Christmas joy, etc., but when you say that this 
story about the Child in the Manger is a well- 
spring of joy — then, really, you go a little bit too 
far, and such exaggerations hurt your own cause. 
It isn't sensible to make it out quite as strong as 
that. Behold that highly praised Child Jesus nailed 
to the cross as a condemned criminal, His mother 
standing at the foot of the cross — and then tell us: 
Isn't it true that this Child, like so many, many 
others, made joy change into sorrow? Wouldn't 
any mother's heart break when she had to witness 
her son die the death of a condemned criminal? 
Even though no sin was found in Him, then you 
must admit that in this position he was a well of 
sorrow and weeping rather than of joy. 

We answer: We know very well that His 
mother and His disciples mourned and wept — 
they could not do otherwise in that hour. But the 
well-spring of this sorrow and weeping was not in 
the crucified Christ. Even in this hour He is the 
well-spring of joy, for then He nailed our debt 
of sin to the cross. Then He redeemed us from 
the power of sin and death and the devil. It was 



Christmas Thoughts 15 

for our sake that He allowed Himself to be nailed 
fast onto the cross. It was thus magnificently re- 
vealed here that the Child praised while sitting on 
the virgin's knee, had proved to be our faithful 
friend in life and death, when He became a man. 
Therefore, He is, also, in this the darkest hour of 
His earthly life, a well-spring of joy, and if we 
are to weep when we gather about the Christmas 
Child as the Crucified One in the church of the 
Lord — then it shall be out of the joy of ouf 
hearts. 

The Christmas Child is the only one, born of 
woman, of whom it can be said that He has been a 
well-spring of joy. And that He has been through- 
out the life of mankind — from that very moment 
when in the Garden of Eden He was spoken of 
as the conqueror of the serpent. But He is also 
the only one who 

"makes all earth feel joyful." 



4. To Join in the Song 

"The angels join the singing." 

Well, it is easy enough for them to sing when 
we give the tone, for it is never too high for them. 
It is different when we are to join when they lead 
the singing. Sometimes it is a little bit hard for 
us children of dust — but we must learn it. 

They sang that Christmas Eve: "Glory to God 
in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward 
men!" 



A Christmas Gift 



The first part of it is easy for you to sing, for 
"the glory of Christmas is God's above the highest 
sky." That's quite simple. 

But when the angels then sing: "On earth peace, 
good will toward men !" you stop short; you cannot 
sing that. The tone is too high for you. When 
you look at your own life, it seems to be burdened 
much more with strife and worry and trouble than 
lightened by peace. And what do the heavenly hosts 
mean when they sing about good will toward your- 
self — O, well, it isn't much! 

Then if you look beyond the narrow confines of 
your own life and behold the church of the Lord, 
w T here peace should be far more firmly rooted, then 
— what then ? "The eye sees strife and only strife." 
and the people speak about peace and tremble in the 
thunder of cannon. They bleed and scream piti- 
fully en the battlefield because of their wounds — 
and at home under the pressure of military budgets. 

No, you cannot join in the singing! 

But how, then, could the angels sing as they did 
that Christmas night? Was not the world filled 
with war and disturbances in those days, too ? Was 
not the world full of souls in quest of lost peace? 
Yes, even so ! And the angels saw it. But they saw 
something more. 

Amidst all the restlessness of~a disturbed world 
they saw a little Child on His mother's knee. In 
this child's eyes the sacred peace of Heaven was 
reflected. So that was at least one human soul 
in all the millions of mankind where perfect peace 
reigned on earth. 

Toward this, the only one, the angels looked. 



Christmas Thoughts 17 

When, then, you seek peace on earth, look not in 
the direction of the world, of the struggling masses, 
but look toward Jesus — not as He was that night 
on His mother's knee in the inn near Bethlehem — 
for He is there no more, but as He is in His church, 
in His word, and in His institutions. His church 
on earth is that mother's knee upon which you shall 
find Him, and where you, in a world filled with 
war and strife, shall find peace and repose for your 
own soul. 

The angels made no attempt whatever to pene- 
trate into the strife of the world or to unravel its 
troubles. Neither shall }^ou so do. On the other 
hand, they tried to look into the eye of the Saviour, 
and there they beheld Peace — a heavenly Peace 
which they had not seen on earth since that evening 
hour when Adam and Eve were driven out of the 
Garden of Eden, and when one of their own kind 
was placed on guard with a flaming sword at 
the portals of Paradise. Then night fell upon 
earth. But Christmas Eve the new day began to 
arise from out of the darkness. Then they saw again 
a human being in the depth of whose soul reigned 
the Peace of Heaven, and therefore they bore their 
good will. 

The peace and the good will, then, was in this 
one man, and through Him born into the millions of 
mankind. The angels had seen this one, and there- 
fore they could sing as they did. 

Perhaps you say: Well, I can understand plainly 
enough why God the Father and the holy angels 
should bear Him good will. But were I to join 
in the singing, I must needs be convinced that the 



1 8 A Christmas Gift 

Father would also bear me good will. That is what 
I need to be convinced about. But here I stand tell- 
ing myself: The best acts in my life, the purest 
thoughts in my soul, are darkened by sin. What 
then? 

Yes, that is true. 

But, then, tell me: Have you not at times felt 
the nearness of Jesus? Was not He your soul's 
refuge in the darkness? Was not He like a lumi- 
nous star in your life? Was He not yours — con- 
ceived within you in the sacred moment of baptism, 
born into the world with pangs within your soul — 
perhaps in the darkness of night? But then the 
Father in Heaven does bear you good will. He 
does not look at the darkness of sin within you — 
that, He knows, will be vanquished by the light of 
His son, but He looks at His only begotten Son 
who is the luminous star of your life — the only one, 
but splendid and bright. 

Then you own in Him the Peace of Heaven and 
the good will of God our Father — and then you 
can join in the singing. 



5. The Joy of Understanding 

(John i, 1-14) 

Who among us does not remember Christmas 
at home? — In my own childhood home there 
was no Christmas tree, but a remarkably impressive 
solemnity reigned above and upon all during Christ- 
mas. Sometimes I still wish that I might become a 



Christmas Thoughts 19 

child once more and celebrate Christmas at home 
again, with father and mother, grandmother and all 
those dear ones. That cannot be done, however, 
for all these beloved ones are having Christmas in 
the mansions of Heaven — and I am no longer a 
child. But about these Christmas memories, I want 
to say: "God, let me never, never forget them!" 

That was the joy without clearly conscious rea- 
sons. One was glad just because it was Christmas, 
but was unable to go into any further details about 
the reasons. 

But now I am a child no more! — Are we as 
"grown-ups" to be satisfied with the memory of our 
childhood Christmas, and by witnessing the pleasure 
of the children — share a little of that Christmas 
sentiment which envelops all? 

Undoubtedly, many people will answer : Yes, that 
is all. Christmas really is meant only for the 
children. Since we became experienced men and 
women who have become acquainted with the vexa- 
tions and worries of life, we cannot thoroughly 
enjoy Christmas. To us, the law of life has been 
proclaimed in the words: "In the. sweat of thy 
face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the 
ground; for out of it wast thou taken." 

In the hard, wearying, suffering and struggling 
life of the world, the unconscious joy, that is, the 
joy that knows of no reason, is not enough. There 
is a craving for a joy that knows and understands 
the spirit of Christmas if one is to be completely 
glad — that is true! 

But what does the Gospel say: 

"And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among 



20 A Christmas Gift 

us (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the 
only begotten of the Father), full of grace and 
truth." 

That means, that the only begotten Son of God, 
who was with God and who was Himself God, 
has descended and taken up his abode among us — 
not only among the children ! No, indeed, also 
among grown-up and experienced men and women 
who must shoulder the burdens and heat of the day. 

The Christmas message is the message that tells 
us that Jesus Christ, with Heavenly power and with 
Heavenly love, has taken up his abode among all 
working, struggling and suffering people upon earth 
— not like a haughty, indifferent onlooker at your 
work, your exertions, your struggle as we might 
imagine the son of the big manufacturer going into 
the shop looking at the toiling, perspiring workers 
with haughty, indifferent scorn and with a shrug of 
the shoulder. 

No, Jesus Christ entered the life of mankind as a 
benevolent and powerful participant in it, so that 
you, when you look at your work and wonder 
whether you will be able to finish it — -at your suf- 
fering and wonder whether you can keep on suf- 
fering — never shall reckon with your own strength 
alone, but must include Jesus therein. He has 
gone into your suffering, has taken up your fight and 
your work for the purpose of suffering, fighting 
and working with you and becoming your Saviour. 

Therefore, He says: "Come unto me, all ye that? 
labor and are heavey laden, and I will give you 
rest." That means: All you men and women who 
labor and are heavy laden. 



Christmas Thoughts 21 

But when I can grasp a little of this, then I 
enjoy Christmas — not because of the memory of 
vanished days, but because of the understand- 
ing of the fact that Christmas is meant just for 
me who have experienced how much there is to 
labor for, to fight against, and to be saved from, 
and how sorely I stand in need of a heavenly sup- 
port of strength and love, in my daily work and 
in my daily struggles. 

Therefore, I now say: Christmas is meant for all 
us grown-up men and women who take life seri- 
ously and who know what are its conditions. We 
cannot dispense with Christmas, at all. We offer 
God our praise and our gratitude for Christmas, 
and we do so with the joy of understanding. 



6. The Faith of a Little Child 

On the west front lay a 17-year-old boy a few 
days before Christmas, 191 5. He had volun- 
tarily enlisted under the flag of Great Britain, and 
was yearning to storm forward in the ranks of his 
comrades — forward to victory. And he had been in 
the front rank. Now he lay wounded and bleed- 
ing on the battlefield. 

The battle was over; the stars shone, and he 
was thinking : Wonder, if I shall lie here and die ! 

Memories stormed upon him. His mother had 
said: "God be always with you, my lad!" and the 
old minister had said: "Remember there is always 
a window open upward !" 

Upward — upward to God ! Was it not as though 



22 A Christmas Gift 

the twinkling stars were smiling at him — calling 
him, as it were? 

Yes, they summoned him upward. 

O, how that wound pained him ! Wonder if 
the ambulance isn't coming soon? He could hear* 
the cries of the other wounded; perhaps that was 
when they were lifted up from the ground. Would 
no one find him ? He could not stir, could not call 
— could only gaze at the distant stars. 

Was there room for him up there? Yes, for he 
was sure death was approaching. "Mother," he 
whispered, "mother — O God — take my soul — now, 
just before Christmas — for the sake of Jesus 
Christ!" 

The angels came, and they carried him to heaven. 
His prayer had been heard up there. His child's soul 
was carried upward to God. 



When the famous French preacher, Adolphe 
Monod, was asked what had been the cause of his 
greatest gratitude, he said: "I thank God that He 
hath gvien me the faith of a little child/' 

The main thing for him was not that God had 
given him a great task as a preacher and a theo- 
logian, but that He had given him the faith of a 
little child. That means: The faith that accepts 
the grace of God without making objections! — 

O, thou great and rich and powerful people: Lay 
aside all thy bustle, all thy doubts, and all thy 
suspicion toward God — lay it aside, all of it, and ac- 
cept the joyful tidings of Christmas with the faith of 
a little child — without making objections. Then 
thou wilt be glad. 



Christmas Thoughts 23 

The well known French writer, Larradan, whose 
pen formerly had written nothing but scorn against 
faith, during the war implored his people to re- 
turn to the Christian faith as the only firm and 
saving foothold. He writes: 

"I laughed at faith and thought myself cock- 
sure. Now I no longer rejoice at my scornful 
laughter, for I see France bleeding and weeping. I 
stood at the wayside and saw the soldiers. They 
went out to meet death — rejoicing. I asked: What 
makes you so calm? And they began praying to 
God saying: 'We believe in God!' I counted the 
sacrifices of our people, and noticed that they bore 
them praying. Then it became clear to me that 
there was something comforting and sustaining in 
recognizing an eternal home-country, when that of 
the earth is glowing in the fire of hatred. This 
feeling is science — the science of the child. ... A 
nation must despair if it does not believe that the 
torment of the earth can be exchanged for the 
joy of Heaven. . . . France was great in the days 
of yore. But that was a France which had faith. 
How about France in our own age? It is torn to 
pieces with want and suffering. It is a France that 
believes no longer. Will her future brighten? At 
the hand of God — only at the hand of God. — 
France, O, France, revert to the faith, to thy most 
beauteous days! To go away from God is to per- 
ish! . . ." 

/ thank God that He hath given me the faith of a 
little child! 



THOUGHTS FOR THE NEW YEAR 

i. To See Like the Angels- 

'TpHE striking feature of the way in which angels 
A see does not consist in their seeing everything, 
both good and evil, in this world, in a rosy hue, 
in heavenly glory so that they really do not see 
the evil as it is — but in this that they see particularly 
what is good and seek that by preference — let their 
eye dwell upon, rest thereon, with pleasure. There- 
fore we can sing : 

To us He also smiles 

With Heaven's light in His eyes. 

It is otherwise with that human being who is de- 
praved by nature. His eye seeks, with a certain 
predilection, whatever is wrong in his fellow-beings, 
dwells upon it with mischievous joy. It is an innate 
fault which makes it difficult for us humans to em- 
brace one another, to smile at one another, in the 
manner of angels. 

Suppose that we in the new year make a serious 
attempt to look at each other as the angels look — 
seeking what is good in our fellow-beings. With an 
earnest will we can accomplish much, especially 
when we are sustained by prayer. 

Let us begin at home! 

Perhaps it is long since you, man, have embraced 
24 



Thoughts for the New Year 25 

your wife and given her a real smile. When she 
was your bride — in the years of youth — that was 
your greatest joy, but as the years went by you 
found this fault and that with her, and then — 
why, then you ceased embracing her and smiling 
at her. It wasn't quite as bright in your home as 
before. She became more and more reticent; her 
rippling laughter — like that of a child — was heard 
no more. Her cheerful songs were silent. She be- 
came rather morose and querulous. A woman can- 
not thrive where home is without smiles and love. 
You accepted the slow changes as it behooves a 
man of staid dignity — life teaches so much, also 
compromise with ideals, and the realization that 
the bright expectations of youth come to naught. 

But, now suppose that it wasn't Life, but you 
yourself that were to blame? Suppose the change 
arose from the fact that you had been inconsiderate 
to your wife. Your eye had detected her faults 
and shortcomings rather than her good points ? Try, 
man, during the new year to look at her as the 
angels look at us! Let your eye, diligently and 
willingly, seek what is good in her, dwell upon it, be 
jealous of it — give her all the appreciation she 
deserves for making the home cosy and comfortable. 
Try it with an earnest effort and a sincere prayer 
— then you will once more feel like embracing her 
and smiling at her as you did when she was the 
bride of your youth. It might happen that you 
would reap a hundredfold before the year ebbs out. 
It will be brighter and more snug in your house — 
and it will feel so good to be at home. 

Or you, wife and mother, beginning to bend down 



26 A Christmas Gift 

and "feel old" although you are just beyond thirty. 
Perhaps you tell yourself: O, had I only thought 
then that he was as he is — but I did not know. 
And the children, yes — God knows, they are like 
him — naughty and hard to manage. Instead of 
staying at home to help a little with the children 
in the evening — he just simply skips out. 

Hush — wait a while ! 

In what way did you tell him this when you 
asked him last to stay at home? Did you throw 
your arms around his neck — did you smile at him, 
saying : My dear, stay home with us tonight ? 

It's no use, you say — but "it's no use" is, abso- 
lutely, a term which cannot be found in the vocabu- 
lary of Christians nor in the life of Christians — 
nor in yours if you are a Christian woman. It helps 
very much to do what is good while praying — 
perhaps not when you want it, perhaps not the way 
you want it. But it will surely help if during the 
new year you look for just that in your husband 
which you loved when you were young — if you let 
your eye dwell upon it, cling firmly to it in your 
thoughts, carry it into your prayer — embrace him 
and smile at him as in the bygone days of youth. 

Where love has been sown, the harvest is as de- 
pendable as is that of the wheat in the field — it is 
only in some cases that it proves a failure. And 
even though yours might seem to be just such a 
case where your love did not sustain him — then the 
love which you have sown will sustain you and 
your little ones — and in the course of the year your 
home will reap at least thirtyfold. 

We always gain by sowing love — also in cases 



Thoughts for the New Year 27 

where we must needs acknowledge that our love, 
like the seed that fell by the wayside, bears no fruit 
in those upon whom it descended. But in the 
large majority of homes the seeds of love will fall 
into fertile ground, and bring forth fruit, some 
thirtyfold, some sixty and some a hundred. 

When only we have learned how to embrace the 
dear ones at home and to smile as the angels smile, 
then we will also be able to smile at others — but first 
at home. 

And a year in which we have tried with earnest 
diligence to learn the art of seeing what is good in 
life, to dwell upon it and to smile at our fellow- 
beings — as the angels smile — is a good year, rich in 
the grace and blessings from above. 



I had just officiated at the funeral of a woman, 
the mother of many children, when a man said to 
me, "Well, now she's got a velvet-lined coffin, but 
while she lived she was hardly able to get a calico 
dress." And that was not because of poverty. 

What if her husband had given her a velvet dress 
while she was living! Then she would have taken 
pleasure in it, and he would have received her 
gratitude. The beautiful casket she could not en- 
joy — and could give him no thanks for it. 

But you don't behave like that, do you? 



On another occasion I heard the widow ask one of 



28 A Christmas Gift 

the pall-bearers when we turned away from the 
grave: "How did you like that sermon?" The fol- 
lowing day I met her son-in-law and was told that 
she had not liked it at all. Among other things 
he remarked: "She simply wanted you to put some 
feathers in her crown, but there wasn't any room 
for them." And I agreed with him. 



In both instances man and wife lived together un- 
til parted by death. But love had died — happiness 
vanished. 

Speak to each other the kindly words — scatter 
flowers on each other's way throughout the year, 
then Love groweth, and happiness in the home in- 
creases in intensity. Then you can truly sing : 

Home, home, sweet, sweet home, 
There's no place like home — 
O, there's no place like home. 



2. The Hidden Life 
(Mat. 6, 5-7) 

The inscription on the tombstone erected on the 
grave of the great French philosopher, Descartes 
(died 1650), reads: "He has lived well who was 
hidden well" or, "He is happy whose life is hid- 
den" 

In this lies the thought that happiness depends 



Thoughts for the New Year 29 

upon the hidden life — that this is something good 
which affords one a refuge. 

Nowadays, the prevailing impression is that hap- 
piness is contingent upon life in public view; that 
happiness consists in the ability to attain a prominent 
position, in being admired, gaining wealth and win- 
ning fame. This is an absolute delusion. 

Andrew Carnegie, the late multi-millionaire, said : 
"I have tried to make money by leading an inces- 
santly busy life — but it did not make me happy. 
Now I have tried to give money away to public 
institutions — and still I found no happiness in that" ; 
this is an impressive testimony from a prominent 
and honest man, showing that happiness has nothing 
to do with life in the public view. 

It is this Jesus says to the Pharisees: You stake 
all upon leading your life in public view, in the 
synagogues and in the streets, to gain the admiration 
of men. For this reason you have forgotten to seek 
the good refuge with God, to lead a hidden life with 
God, full of prayer. Therefore, your public life is 
devoid of blessing to the people and without joy 
to yourselves. You have no reward, and no happi- 
ness. 

"Enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut 
thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret." 
You shall seek the hidden corners of your own heart 
and there speak with your Father about that life 
which stirs in there, unseen by the world. Then 
you will soon realize the necessity of hiding with 
God the Father and of living your life with Him 
hidden away from the world. That is the con- 
dition for your becoming a happy man or a happy 



30 A Christmas Gift 

woman, and it will contribute to the bliss of that 
part of your life which must be lived before the 
public. 

Therefore, this shall be my New Year's wish for 
you, that you during the coming year may find the 
happiness which lies in the hidden life of prayer, 
with God. 

Many married people seem to think that their 
matrimonial happiness depends on swell homes and 
association with those more prosperous families 
known as "society" — "Keeping up with the 
Joneses." This is wrong. Attempts of that kind 
often lead to the utter destruction of happiness. It 
is true that a nice home and a pleasing circle of ac- 
quaintances are worth much, but marital happiness 
does not depend upon them. It springs from that 
life which man and wife live together unseen by the 
eyes of the world. 

The happiest moments in the life of a wife are not 
those in which her husband stands upon the stage 
of the world, the object of praise and admiration 
— as the man to whom the laurel wreath is given; 
nor, in the life of the man, when his wife is con- 
sidered a celebrated grand lady. No, the sublimest 
happiness in married life is due to those hours when 
man and wife sit cheerfully at home, hand in hand, 
talking about the grace of God and about their 
mutual love. 



Many young people think that happiness and joy 
depend upon the number of dances they are able to 



Thoughts for the New Year 31 

attend, or upon exterior circumstances. It is not 
their fault that they are neither happy nor glad. It 
is due to the environment, living conditions, to those 
with whom they associate. And while all this may 
be of importance it is, profoundly seen, a delusion, 
nevertheless. It is true, also, in the case of the 
young man and the } r oung woman that their hap- 
piness essentially depends upon their hidden life. If 
that is a life of impure thoughts, of sinful cravings 
■ — then happiness will be meagre, no matter how 
favorable the environment may be. There will be 
no calm and deep-seated joy, no real happiness. If, 
on the other hand, that hidden life means a life of 
pure thoughts and noble ambition, a life in God, 
then it will mean happiness even though the environ- 
ment mav be unfavorable. 



It is a law in the life of mankind that happiness 
depends upon the manner in which the hidden life is 
lived. By creating this law, God has given rich and 
poor an equal chance of happiness, and has shown 
Himself as the friend of the poor. 



King Charles IX of France once asked the Italian 
poet, Tasso: "Who, think you, is the happiest?" 

Without a moment of hesitation, the poet an- 
swered : 

"God." 

"Yes, yes, very well," the king said, "but then 
next to God?" 

"The one who resembles Him most," was the 
answer. 



THE WORTH OF YOUR SOUL 

"EfOR what is a man profited, if he shall gain the 
A whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what 
shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" (Mat. 
1 6, 26.) 

The first thought is that of the infinite worth 
of the soul. 

In one scale of the balance Jesus places all the 
world with its gold and gems, its art and science, its 
limitless values of woods and prairie soil — and in 
the other, a human soul. And then He says: Be- 
hold all this splendor! Look at it all, thou yearn- 
ing child of man ! It is not equal to the worth of 
your soul. 

Everything great and beautiful in life originates 
in the human soul. Through that, all noble 
thoughts and great ideas have come into being. 
Every work of art was formed in a human soul be- 
fore it was painted upon the canvas, chiseled in mar- 
ble, or written in a book. It is the stamp of the 
human soul that lends value to the work. 

Revere that mark of the soul wherever you rec- 
ognize it! But have reverence, above all, for the 
soul itself. That has the worth of infinity. To 
"lose your soul" is to suffer everlasting damage 
which cannot be repaired or substituted by values of 
the world. 

32 



The Worth of Your Soul 33 

The other thought is that about exchange for 
your soul. 

Wherever that precious soul is demanded of you, 
you can give nothing else in exchange. There is 
nothing in the whole, wide world that has value 
enough as exchange for a human soul. Neither is 
there anything whose value can equal that of the 
mark of your soul upon your work. 

If you owe your neighbor ten bushels of wheat, 
you may pay him back by giving him twenty bushels 
of corn or cash in exchange, and he will realize that 
he is paid in full. But this cannot be done where 
rests upon you the giving of your soul. 

This first of all you must consider in your rela- 
tion to God who gave you your soul. He will de- 
mand it from you when your earthly life has 
ended. If your soul then is seen to have suffered 
corruption, it is not fit to enter into eternal life, 
and you have nothing else to give God in its place. 
It avails you nothing that you say: "O, Lord, I 
know that I have been so occupied with worldly 
things that I have not taken care of my soul, as I 
should have done. But, in this way I have made 
Si 0,000 which I now donate to missionary work." — 
My dear, that cannot compensate for the wrong 
that has been inflicted upon your soul. 

David understood this. Therefore he said to 
God: "For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would 
I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering." 
But God delights in a prayer like this: "Have 
mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving- 
kindness; according unto the multitude of thy ten- 



34 A Christmas Gift 

der mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me 
thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from 
my sin!" There is a human soul in this prayer 
— it is true that it is a suffering soul — but it is 
there. 

Thus God demands that your soul be in your 
prayer, your praise, and your worship, and there is 
nothing else that can take its place. 

The worship of the Pharisee was perfect, from 
the point of form. Everything was done according 
to rules and regulations. But it was soulless. 
Therefore, Jesus condemns it. But where He hears 
the prayer or sees the tears of repentant sinners, 
He stands still. There he stoops, and in their wail- 
ing and stammering worship He beholds a human 
soul that has suffered wrongs — one, perhaps, which 
is deeply tainted. But the soul is there, and it has 
worth to Him. He can heal all the wounds of the 
soul. And where the wounds of the soul are being 
healed, worship takes place. But, then, the human 
soul must take part. 



This is true, also, in wordly things. Where your 
soul is demanded of you, you can give nothing else 
in barter for it. 

You may give your wife food and shelter, dresses 
and footwear, but that is not enough. She has a 
right to your soul. Golden rings and splendid 
dresses cannot take its place. But if you do give 
her your soul — in smiling joy or in a burst of weep- 
ing — she will cling unto you with everlasting re- 



The Worth of Your Soul 35 

joicing in her heart. In this devotion she will 
recognize infinite worth. 

Or your children ! You may give them a good 
education, may even leave them a substantial legacy. 
But what God above all else demands of you, is that 
you give them your soul — a father's soul and a 
mother's soul, which they can learn to honor and 
to love. To give them a substantial legacy as an 
equivalent to this spiritual partnership is to give 
them stones where bread is wanted. 



Remember, then, your soul's infinite worth — re- 
member that wherever it be demanded of you, in 
your relations to God or men : You can give nothing 
in its place. 

There is nothing in this world which is valuable 
enough to take the place of the human soul. 



THAT WHICH IS HIDDEN SHALL BE 
REVEALED 

(Mat. io, 26) 

"POR there is nothing covered, that shall not be 
A revealed ; and hid, that shall not be known." 

No one sees it, thinks the burglar when in the 
hours of the night he breaks into a house. It is hid- 
den by darkness. 

No one sees it, think the adulterer and the adul- 
teress when they satisfy their sinful lust. It is hid- 
den to others. It is their secret. 

No one sees it, and no one will know about it, 
the young man thinks when, covered by darkness, he 
sneaks into the saloon. 

Yes, God sees it! — Yes, God! But, to be sure, 
He doesn't tell the neighbors about it the next morn- 
ing. No, to be sure! But, nevertheless, it will be 
brought forward in the light of the day — all these 
secrets of darkness. 

If that consciousness could but be vivid and 
strong within us — how many criminals would then 
keep away from the paths of evil ! 

And how many secrets of darkness would be re- 
vealed to God through repentant confessions — and 
be forgiven instead of concealed in the inner- 
most chambers of the heart like a guilty secret — 
36 



That Which Is Hidden Shall Be Revealed 37 

a guilty secret only to be covered by a new trans- 
gression. 

"The Lord discovereth deep things out of the 
darkness, and bringeth out to light the shadow of 
death," says Job (12, 22). 

When Judas had agreed to betray Jesus, he con- 
cealed that evil secret in the innermost chamber of 
his heart. But Jesus saw it in there. He saw that 
this secret of darkness would push Judas into the 
darkness without — down to despair — to perdition. 

Therefore Jesus made an attempt to bring out 
that secret from the darkness when they sat to- 
gether at the Easter meal. That is my understand- 
ing of Jesus' pointing out Judas as the traitor. It is 
as though he would say to him: O, listen, Judas, 
let us bring that dark secret out into the light so 
that it may be forgiven! But Judas arose and 
went away. He wanted to keep the evil secret 
to himself. 

Happy he or she who asks Jesus to bring forth the 
evil secrets from the heart so that they may be re- 
pented and forgiven — so that their power may be 
crushed ! Then, on the great day they shall be 
revealed as having been repented of and forgiven — 
to the glory of the Lord who has released us from 
the fetters of the evil secrets. 

But it is not only the evil secrets that are to be 
revealed in the light of the day. All secrets are to 
be revealed. 

Does man possess other secrets than those of the 
darkness? Will there not be very little to bring 
forth in the way of good secrets from the recesses 
of the heart? 



38 A Christmas Gift 

No, thank God, there will be thousands of them ? 

All those loving thoughts which you conceived 
in secret, and which you never found a chance to 
express — they shall be revealed on that great day. 

All the heavy sighs and all the burning prayers 
which have issued forth from the depths of the heart 
in secret, shall be made known in the light. And 
they are countless. Generation after generation has 
witnessed parents praying for their children — O, 
could we but realize a small part of all that which 
has been fought for and prayed for in secret ! Then 
we would be surprised to know that someone had 
thought so lovingly, had prayed so fervently, and 
struggled so earnestly for our sake — in secret. 

All these good and pure secrets shall be revealed 
on the great day. 

How radiantly they will testify that the human 
heart has not been merely the battlefield of the 
secrets of darkness, as some seem to believe. 

And together with all the evil secrets, repented of 
and forgiven, they shall glorify our Lord and Saviour 
Jesus Christ who endowed us with the gift of want- 
ing to think lovingly, pray fervently, and struggle 
earnestly in secret. 



NOT IN WORD, NEITHER IN TONGUE 

\yf Y little children, let us not love in word, neither 
■*-*•*■ in tongue, but in deed and in truth" (I. John 
3, 18). 

Five little girls stood in a garden telling each 
other how dearly each one of them loved her mother. 
The words became more and more emphatic until 
finally Bertha — the eldest of them — poking her nose* 
upward, said decisively: "I love my mamma so 
much that I could die for her sake." And thus 
everyone was brought to silence. 

But on a bench a little farther away in the gar- 
den Bertha's aunt sat sewing; she overheard it all, 
and then said: "It is strange that a little girl who 
loves her mother so much that she would be willing 
to die for her, does not love her enough to wash 
dishes for her. I heard this noon, Bertha, that you 
didn't want to do the dishes for your mamma!" 

It is strange, indeed! 

"My little children, let us not love in word, 
neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth." 



The young man says to his bride: "I love you, 
darling, so much that I could carry you on my 
hands all through life!" — A year after the wedding 
it may happen that he cannot carry up a bucket of 
coal from the basement for her. 
39 



40 A Christmas Gift 

That's strange, too. 

The young woman says to her fiance: "I love you 
so much that I could die for you !" — But if it is a 
question of that new Easter bonnet, she cannot save 
a dollar out of regard for her husband's pocket- 
book: She doesn't love him that much. 

You do not love each other enough to sacrifice 
for each other's sake — or to be a bit patient with 
each other — or to cut down a little your own per- 
sonal demands out of regard for each other. There- 
fore we have so many divorces. 

"My little children, let us not love in word, 
neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth." 



Charles Dickens tells in one of his books of two 
sisters who are discussing how intently they wish to 
do something really great and good. Under the 
petty circumstances at home they couldn't get the 
chance. But if they might be sent out as mission- 
aries among the heathens — O, how they would toil 
just to help those poor people ! It didn't matter that 
perhaps they would have to suffer the pangs of hun- 
ger and persecution — if they only could show people 
their love. 

Just then their old grandmother who was sick 
abed in the next room, said: "O, girls, won't one 
of you come and scratch my back ?" 

"You can do that," the one said. "No, you'd 
better do it," said the other. "It's always up to me 
— you might do it once in a while!" 

That was the end of the glory — and of the love. 



Not in Word , Neither in Tongue 41 

On distant shores; under other circumstances they 
would do deeds of love. But in that everyday life 
where God had placed them, it wasn't quite as easy 
as all that to show their love. 

We can all catch ourselves in similar shortcom- 
ings. We would like to be charitable on a grand 
scale if we were elsewhere or differently situated; 
but in everyday life — it is so prosaic just to help an 
old mother, or a grandfather, or some sick and poor 
person. And yet it is that which submits us to 
the crucial test. 

"My little children, let us love not in word, 
neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth." 



SEEST THOU THIS WOMAN? 

(Lu. 7, 44) 

CIMEON is a benevolent Pharisee, deferential 
^ toward Jesus, but icy and dignified. 

The woman is a sinner, a former prostitute with 
whom Simeon is disgusted ; yes, he sees her, all right ! 
He knows her ! 

It is as when I ask someone: Do you know the 
ocean? and he then answers: I should say so! I 
have been standing in the downs watching the 
waves; I have seen them soaring to the height of 
houses while the wind whipped their foam into my 
eyes. Yes, I have seen the ocean — I know it, all 
right ! 

Then I answer: Pardon me, my dear — but if that 
is all you have seen, you do not know the ocean. 
You have not seen it while it lay calm and glittering 
and smooth like a mirror in the sunshine, nor have 
you noticed it when its surface was all alive with 
ripples, and when it roared with that hollow sound 
that betrays the presence of violent undertows far 
beneath the surface. 

Thus with Simeon. That which he had seen and 
heard of this woman, had been brought to him, like 
the wind-swept foam of the sea, in the storm of 
evil tongues, and then he says: I should think 
I know her, indeed ! I know to what kind she be- 



Seest Thou This Woman? 43 

longs. I see her — a low-down, vulgar and lewd 
woman ! 

But the undertow in the depth of her soul he had 
not seen ; the heaving sighs from within he had not 
heard. He did not know how often she had been 
tossing restlessly upon her couch in moaning and 
anguish, nor how firmly she had been clutched 
by the wound-inflicting bonds of vice, nor how 
strongly she had tugged at them in order that she 
might set herself free. 

And that was not the only thing Simeon did not 
see. The wind-swept foarn had veiled his eye so he 
could not see what was really good in her at that 
moment despite her appearance stamped with sin. 
There were bitter tears of repentance. There was 
warmth of heart. There was love for Jesus. 

Seest thou this woman ? Seest thou this man ? 

How do you look at the people among whom you 
live? Do you notice only the uncouth exterior? 
Do you listen only to that which is carried to you 
by the wind of the evil tongues? Or do you listen 
to the undertow in the depths of the heart, to the 
heaving sighs, the hollow roaring from within? 

The famous Italian sculptor, Michelangelo, 
once stood before a large coarsely chiseled slab of 
stone which he surveyed carefully, and with in- 
creasing pleasure, from all angles. "There is noth- 
ing extraordinary about this stone," a friend re- 
marked, "what peculiarity do you notice?" 

"What do I notice?" Michelangelo answered, 
"I see an angel within this stone, and I must re- 
lease it." 

It may be that our Lord Jesus did not exactly 



44 A Christmas Gift 

see an angel within this woman — nor does He see 
one in you and in me — but beneath the rough sur- 
face He saw a human soul created in the image of 
His Heavenly Father and after His likeness, and 
He said : I will release it ! 



By lookinff at the undertow in the depths of the 
soul and by listening to the heaving sighs from with- 
in, you will be enabled to look at your fellow- 
beings with ever-increasing interest and — delight! 



WHAT ABOUT THE DEVIL? 

\\THAT about the devil? — That is an exceed- 
* * ingly difficult problem to the wiseacres of this 
world. 

Recently a learned professor proclaimed from his 
speaker's chair that no single individual, no organi- 
zation of any kind, could rid the world of the devil, 
but Time would — Time would most certainly get 
him away. And the assemblage applauded en- 
thusiastically from out the joy of their hearts. Most 
likely they did not stop to think at that moment that 
Time would undo them long before it could ever 
undo the devil. That may, however, be excused, 
for learned people often are somewhat thoughtless 
— and all these were scholars. 

Or was the charity of the auditors so far-seeing 
that it rejoiced in behalf of generations yet un- 
born? Well, who knows — for that kind of people 
also possess a heart. 

Be that as it may. 

But, concerning the devil — whether a devil 
actually exists or merely is a creature of imagina- 
tion ; whether he is a really dangerous foe or simply 
a phantom from the days of yore — I must try to 
make clear to myself, and you must do likewise. 

It doesn't appear to be so difficult, after all, 
when the matter is approached without any frills and 
furbelows. I look at it this way: I have been bap- 
45 



46 A Christmas Gift 

tized to renounce the devil, all his works and all his 
ways. That was told me at the moment of my 
baptism. I affirmed it in order to be incorporated 
into the Kingdom of God. Jesus Christ demands 
of me that I renounce the devil if I am to be His 
disciple. If, then, no devil existed, He who is Him- 
self the Truth and the Lord of the Kingdom of 
Truth, at the outset must expect of me that I affirm 
a lie — He whose own lips never knew untruth and 
deceit, would ask that I in order to become a part 
of His Kingdom, renounce a devil who does not 
exist: That would not only be senseless: It is im- 
possible ! When my Lord and Saviour tells me to 
renounce the devil, then I do believe a devil exists, 
and that my own welfare now and hereafter makes 
it necessary that I keep away from him. 

In this matter, the word of my Lord sufficeth for 
me! 

It is my faith in this which relieves me of many of 
those speculative difficulties which entangle so many 
others. I must choose between the word of my 
Lord and the speculative mind of man. To me the 
choice offers no difficulties at all. I choose the 
word of my Lord — no matter whether or not the 
scornful laughter sounds derisively from the other 
side. And let me say it once more : The word of my 
Lord sufficeth. 

When, then, I meet some of those people who 
claim there is no devil ; that all talk about the devil 
is a relic of ancient superstition, I simply say: You 
must excuse me, but in this matter I abide by the 
word of the Lord. I cannot ignore His word and 
accept yours, and, furthermore, I have no feason 



What About the Devilf 47 

whatever for doing so; I have never yet found that 
I could not depend upon His word. 

And if I then consider the ways of the world, as 
they are — then I most certainly am not tempted to 
abandon the covenant of my baptism. The works of 
the devil are apparent to all: Murder, adultery, 
theft, robbery, fraud, deceit, drunkenness, etc. 
Many may say that these are the doings of evil 
people, but if we look a little closer at these evil peo- 
ple we will find that back of it all is one whose 
thralls these poor creatures are. 

If I try to look into the spiritual anguish of these 
pitiful individuals, I am not tempted to give up my 
belief in the devil. To be sure, I do not behold him 
physically, but I see his works. To me it seems to 
be as when I see a building is being erected. I ask: 
Who is building this place? I am told: It is Mr. 
Smith who builds this place, and we are his laborers. 
I do not see Mr. Smith himself, but I notice that 
his work goes on, and I do not doubt that he exists. 
I see his laborers working, some sing and joke while 
others are sullen and indifferent just because it hap- 
pens that they have entered into an agreement which 
for the time being makes them realize their obliga- 
tions to Mr. Smith. If the latter could only find a 
way to wriggle out of that relationship, they would 
feel unspeakably relieved to do so. 

Thus I see the works of the devil in the life of 
man, and by seeing them I find no reason to doubt 
his existence. The evil people are his laborers. 
They work in order to complete his job — some sing- 
ing and joking, others under compulsion. It is clear 
that especially the latter are the slaves of the devil. 



48 A Christmas Gift 

By looking into the spiritual life of these miserable 
ones I find confirmation of the word of my Lord that 
there is a devil that must needs be renounced if we 
are to live contentedly. It is from him our genera- 
tion needs relief, and not from all that ancient gossip 
about him. 

I said a little while ago that the word of the Lord 
sufficeth for me in this matter, and that is true. It 
does not correspond with the theories of the wise- 
acres, but with Life itself. From the learned in- 
fidels the cry is sounded: It isn't true. But from 
the depths of real human life we hear the sigh: 
We are sorely troubled by the devil! 



TWO EPISODES OF THE CIVIL WAR 

I. Looting Those Who Fell 

^TpHE battle was over. Darkness expanded its 
■*• misty veil over the battle-field. Victory had been 
won by neither army, but there were left a large 
number of dead and wounded. 

The ambulances were sent out with help for those 
who fell in the right. Where moans were heard, 
they went, raised the wounded limb a trifle, asked 
sympathetic questions and bandaged the wound as 
well as could be done in a hurry ; then the wounded 
were taken to the field hospital. 

But if one looked more carefully, other figures 
were discernible; half hidden by the darkness they 
sneaked about among the wounded and dead. 

Who were they? 

It didn't look as though they heeded the moans of 
the dying, nor did they raise them to carry them 
off to the field hospital. What were they doing, 
then? 

They were plundering those who fell, taking from 
them their little articles of value: A hideous thing, 
truly a deed of darkness! Who would have be- 
lieved that anyone could have the heart to plunder 
the dying. 

You and I would not do such a thing. We be- 
come intensely indignant and disgusted when told of 
49 



50 A Christmas Gift 

such heartlessness. "God, I thank thee, that I am 
not as the other men are, extortioners " 

No, on that battlefield where the wounded lie, 
having been hit by shells and maimed by swords, we 
do not go in order to plunder and loot. That is 
true enough. 

But — alas, there is a "but" about it. 

The world is a huge battlefield. Right and left 
we see about us the wounded who are moaning and 
suffering from pain ; they are sighing for just a little 
aid, a kind word, a gentle smile. They need suc- 
cor — they need being taken to the hospital. They 
still have a remnant of the sense of honor left. 
There is a possibility that they may right them- 
selves; that they may be able to qualify as good 
fighters in the next skirmish — perhaps to conquer 
where now they have suffered defeat. But instead 
of the gentle smile, the kind word, and the little aid 
— we took away from them whatever was left and 
let them lie where they were. We deprived them 
of the last remnant of honor, extinguished the last 
faint glimmer of hope. The bruised reed was 
broken. The smoking flax was quenched. 

On Life's vast battlefield you and I may, after 
all, have taken part in the plundering of the 
wounded; or we may have gone by just like the 
priest and the Levite. At least we have not always 
done as did the Samaritan : Bound up their wounds, 
pouring in oil and wine, and brought them to an 
inn! 

Old Dr. Bengel says: "I am kept constantly 
busy by reading proof upon myself." 

Let us do likewise. Then we will be better and 



Two Episodes of the Civil War 51 

better enabled to heed the moans of the wounded 
on the vast battlefield of Life, and to bring them to 
the inn, to the church of the Lord where there is 
healing for all wounds. This is our task toward 
the wounded, and it was that which was in the 
mind of Jesus when He said : 
"Go, and do thou likewise!" 

2. Removed Because of Mischief 

During the Civil War it became necessary to re- 
move one of the officers serving under General 
Sherman; "Removed because of mischief" was the 
way it was entered upon the record. 

General O. O. Howard succeeded him in com- 
mand and continued to have charge of the unit 
until the end of the war. 

Then the army arrived, at Washington, where a 
parade was to be held followed by disbanding. 

The day before the parade General Sherman said 
to Howard: 

"The political leaders demand of me that the of- 
ficer whose place you took, resume his charge to- 
morrow and ride at the head of his unit in the 
parade, and I wish you would help me out of this 
predicament." 

"But it is my unit now, General," Howard said, 
"and it is but fair that I ride at its head tomor- 
row." 

"Yes, of course," General Sherman answered, 
"but — are you a Christian, Howard?" 

"What do you mean by that?" Howard asked 
astonished. 



52 A Christmas Gift 

"I mean that you can bear that disappointment 
and let him have the honor. You are a Christian," 
Sherman added; 'Veil — what do you say?" 

Like a brave officer, jealous of his honor, Howard 
had anticipated this day with delight, but, after 
hesitating a moment, he said : 

"Yes, looked at from that point of view, only one 
answer is possible : Let him ride at the head of his 
old unit tomorrow!" 

"All right then," said Sherman, "but you will 
report at headquarters tomorrow morning at 9 
o'clock." 

The next morning at the appointed hour Howard 
reported that everything was arranged. The officer 
who had been removed because of mischief had 
resumed his old post. 

"Very well," Sherman answered, "then you ride 
by my side today." 

"I have no right to do that," Howard replied. 

"It is an order," Sherman answered smilingly. 

Thus O. O. Howard rode beside General Sher- 
man at the head of the entire army in the parade 
at Washington — he who had renounced glory and 
right for the benefit of one who had forfeited both, 
so that the latter might he honored. 

"Removed because of mischief." That might 
have been written upon the brow of Adam when 
the portals of Paradise were closed behind him. 
Removed from the living God because of mischief — 
that was the legend above the whole story of man- 
kind until the fullness of time. 

Removed because of mischief — from one another, 
from the respect of fellow-beings, from honor and 



Two Episodes of the Civil War 53 

enviable positions among men : That was the legend 
above the lives of so many — of him who had stolen 
money from his master's till; of him who had suf- 
fered a moral lapse, etc. 

But into the life of him who has been removed 
from God because of mischief one came and said: 
It is my will that you resume your old place of 
the child in the arms of his Father. It is my will 
that you take part in the ride into the new Jeru- 
salem. I will share my rights with you and give 
you my glory. Yes, thus speaks the Son of the 
King of Heaven in His church upon earth. 

This I have done for thee, Jesus says. But then, 
when you go among those people who have been 
removed because of mischief from good positions 
or from the respect of their fellow-beings: How 
much of your glory and rights can you give to them ? 

You are a Christian. 

We ask, almost as surprised as O. O. Howard: 
What do you mean by that, Lord? Too often, we 
ourselves think too little of it. But Jesus sayeth: 
Remember that you are a Christian when you asso- 
ciate with those who have lost the respect of their 
fellow-beings. As a Christian you must be able 
to sacrifice a little of your honor and your rights 
for their sake. 

To be a Christian is not merely to be a child and 
to rest upon the arm of the Father. It is to make 
real the love of the Father, in the steps of Jesus 
Christ, among those who have fallen by the way- 
side. 

You are a Christian. 

Are you? 



54 A Christmas Gift 

And one thnig more. Howard did not lose any- 
thing by relinquishing his glory and rights like a 
Christian. Far from it! He gained by it. He 
was placed beside the supreme commander at the 
head of the entire army. Thus with us. 

When Jesus demands of us that we as Christians 
shall bring sacrifices, then it is not for the purpose 
of causing us any loss, or to make us advance 
something for which we will not be reimbursed, 
but simply to enable us to receive more from Him. 
Such advances He changes into an income for us. 
We will receive a hundredfold. We will be quali- 
fied to be at the front, and by His side we approach 
the goal. 



YOUR WORDS 

(Mat. 12, 37) 

pOR by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by 
A thy words thou shalt be condemned." 

Isn't this a strange way of speaking? 

If Jesus had said: "By thy works thou shalt 
be justified, and by thy works thou shalt be con- 
demned, then I would have immediately conceded 
that this was good common sense. Actions are 
something tangible, something you can get the actual 
"feel" of, but words— why, they often are nothing 
but hot air. 

Still Jesus says: "By thy words shalt thou be 
justified, and by thy words thou shalt be con- 
demned" — so, I must accept that. 

When, then, I think of the words I have spoken, 
at home, in the church, in the midst of the con- 
gregation, I cannot conceal to myself the fact that 
there were many empty words among them. Not 
only that — there were also some mean words, and 
when they are to be measured by Him who never 
sinned, and whose lips never knew deceit, then I 
must tell myself: There is enough right here to 
condemn you! And I am possessed with fear and 
worry because of my own words. 

If I revert to the good words I may have spoken, 
it isn't much better. And still, I cannot say but 
55 



56 A Christmas Gift 

that I doubtless have spoken some good words, and 
that they may have been of benefit to some. I am 
quite certain that I often have spoken good words 
at sick-beds, in the homes and in the church — 
words that were willingly listened to just because 
they were good words^ that really did comfort 
those who were sick and had sorrowful souls — 
words that were something more than sounding 
brass or a tinkling cymbal — words that were in- 
spired and filled with the warmth of my heart — 
words in which I myself rejoiced sincerely, and for 
which I could never sufficiently thank God that He 
gave me the grace to utter them. 

But, yet — in spite of all this — it does seem to me 
that when my words are to be judged by Him 
who alwaj^s spake the pure, the powerful, the pun- 
gent, and the perfect word — then mine will be found 
wanting. In other words : I doubt that those words 
of mine were so faultless that He who is Himself 
faultless, would consider me justified by my words. 
No, to the contrary — I must tell myself: Thou 
art weighed in the balance and found wanting! 

Thus I find myself placed between fear and 
doubt — fear because of my evil words, and doubt 
about the faultlessness of my good words. 

What shall I do, then? Shall I timidly with- 
draw from the words of the Lord: "By thy words 
thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt 
be condemned"? — Shall I attempt to forget them, 
imagine that they were not meant for me, have no 
bearing upon me — or shall I try to avoid them as 
some fearfully avoid cemeteries at the midnight 
hour? 



Your Words 57 



No, I cannot do that ! 

I must have these strange words clear in my mind. 
I must work them through. To stand between fear 
and doubt, timidly withdrawing from the words of 
my Lord! No, that cannot be possible. Where 
shall I seek refuge? Where shall I seek that ex- 
planation which reconciles me with the word of 
the Lord, and which brings peace into my soul? 

I will seek refuge in the pledge of my baptism — 
as so many others have done in the hour of worry 
and distress. I let it pass ■■ upon my lips, and the 
word is: "I renounce the devil and all his works 
and all his ways." But to renounce means that I 
break off from, separate myself from, and become 
a foe of, the evil one and all that is evil — also my 
own words. But can He, the fair judge, condemn 
me for that which I disavow and separate myself 
from, what I personally oppose? 

No, it is impossible ! That cannot be ! 

This gives me surcease. The fear of my evil 
words must vanish, and, thus unburdened, I go on. 

"I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker 
of heaven and earth ... I believe in Jesus Christ 
His only Son, our Lord ; who was conceived by the 
Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary; suffered 
under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and 
buried; He descended into hell; the third day He 
arose again from the dead; He ascended into 
Heaven and sitteth on the right hand of God, the 
Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to 
judge the quick and the dead. ... I believe in the 
Holy Ghost; the holy Christian church; the com- 



58 A Christmas Gift 

munion of saints ; the forgiveness of sins ; the resur- 
rection of the body, and the life everlasting." 

The word of the Apostles' Creed is the word of 
faith. And what did I say? I believe! It may be 
feebly, alas, but nevertheless — with all its frailty the 
heart embraces the word of faith, and doubt vanishes 
before this word. 

Almost astonished I /ask myself: Is it possible? 
Is it possible that I who found myself placed be- 
tween fear and doubt, conquer both by the word of 
faith? 

That word of faith has thus passed upon my lips, 
not like a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal, but 
as a truth of the heart. It was not a hollow saying, 
it was not a faulty word, and yet it was my own. 
It was given to me in the early morn of my life as a 
gift from God in my baptism. Now it asserts itself 
in spite of all the evil, empty and faulty words I 
have spoken — reaches to the Lord Himself as an 
expression of the innermost life of my heart, and the 
answer of the Lord to this word is: By thy words 
shalt thou be justified ! 

Thus, through the words of the Lord I gained 
peace in my soul, and my heart bursts out its 
"Praised be God!" 



BEHIND THE SHIELD 

(Eph. 6, 16) 

pAUL is imprisoned at Rome and is writing to 
* "the saints which are at Ephesus." He be- 
holds Christian life as one immense struggle — not 
against flesh and blood, that is, against the de- 
praved elements in the life of mankind and the evil 
tendencies in man; no, back of flesh and blood are 
principalities and powers, a host of spirits trained 
in the wiles and the cunning of the devil, and exer- 
cising a tremendous power in the world, through 
evil persons. 

Against these gigantic powers we must needs 
fight, and we must vanquish them. But we cannot 
do so by our own power. We must be "girt about 
with truth," must be clothed in "the whole 
armour of God." This is not an armour that can 
be forged from the steel within ourselves — although 
we say that with all due deference to bravery, 
shrewdness and wisdom; but in the great struggle 
against the powers of darkness we must be girt with 
something stronger. Fortified with our own, we 
sustain wounds, but win no victory. The armour of 
God gives victory, but protects against wounds if 
we know how to use it rightly, 

But when Paul describes the whole armour of 
God, he strongly emphasizes a particular part of it, 
59 



60 A Christmas Gift 

for he says: "Above all, taking the shield* of 
faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the 
fiery darts of the wicked." Thus it is a question of 
making proper use of the shield rather than of the 
sword. The church of the Lord has hitherto laid 
stress on the use of the sword, and therefore the 
result of the fight has often been a number of 
wounded souls, for the sword wounds, while the 
shield protects. 

It is said of our heathen forefathers that they 
knew how to fight as well as how to rest behind the 
shield. They knew how to grasp all the hostile ar- 
rows in their shield while they fought; when they 
had fought themselves weary or spent all their ar- 
rows, while the foe still had plenty of deadly arrows 
to hurl against them, they knew the art of taking 
a rest behind their shield in the midst of the shower 
of arrows. Covered by the shield they gathered 
strength for the purpose of resuming the fight with 
axes and spears while the enemy uselessly wasted 
his supply of arrows. 

I wish sincerely that we possessed somewhat more 
of this ability of our forefathers to use the shield, 
to fight and to rest behind the shield of faith, 
spiritually speaking. That would make it possible 
for us to give battle the thunder of which would 
resound in the remotest corners of the earth, as in 
days of yore the song and the hammer strokes of 
our forefathers were heard in distant countries. 
Then we would not use our fighting ability to plun- 
der foreign shores, but to lead the fight against the 
spiritual powers of evil — to be in the front ranks 

* The Apostles' Creed. 



Behind the Shield 61 

during the fight that shall be fought from the sea 
to the ends of the earth, in which thousands must 
bleed because they have not learned how to use 
the shield of faith. 

We shall make a stand against the wiles of the 
devil! 

If I am not very much mistaken by the signs of 
the age, the attacks on the church of the Lord will 
during the present century become still more 
marked by diabolical cunning and cleverness than 
ever before. The arrows will be sharpened with 
all the shrewdness of science, directed against us 
with cunning, glowing with a devilish hatred against 
everything that is of heavenly birth, and aims at 
heavenly goals. Indecent jokes, cutting scorn and 
cleverly formulated inquiries will constitute a cloud 
of arrows which will darken the sun to many. They 
will be hurled against us through the means of lit- 
erature and science, with violent haughtiness, with 
fierce hatred. And we — we have not that uncon- 
querable courage which enables us to say with the 
hero of Thermopylae: "So much the better — then 
we fight in the shade!" 

How shall we approach the struggle of the twen- 
tieth century? 

Someone may say: We shall sharpen our arrows, 
make them pointed, and send them forth with 
shrewdness and wisdom. We shall use our com- 
mon sense, meet the opponents on the battlefield of 
thought and cleverness, show them what is unen- 
during in the chimera of the atheists and what is 
depraved in the life without God. In the church 
of the Lord we have men who are not inferior to 



62 A Christmas Gift 

our opponents in respect to cleverness and wisdom — 
indeed, we have, praised be God ! 

But it does seem to me that many a valiant 
fighter will succumb in this kind of a struggle, and 
many plain-thinking Christians may flee, as did the 
Philistines in ancient days when their giant had 
fallen. All honor to those who defend and promote 
the Kingdom of God by thought, by reasoning and 
by wisdom ! But along that way we do not accom- 
plish much more than to humbly admit that 

"Stood we alone in our own might, 
Our striving would be losing." 

More and more the shibboleth must be: "Above 
all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall 
be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked." 
Learn how to fight, covered by the shield! That 
means: All your struggle must be based upon the 
words of faith, all your arguments must take these 
as their point of departure instead of using human 
sagacity and the tricks of interpretation; then 
you will be unconquerable. And if it does happen 
that you become weary in the fight against the wiles 
of the devil, or that your arrows are all spent while 
the foe has plenty, then do as our fathers did: 
Take a rest behind the shield ! Cover yourself com- 
pletely with the words of faith, then no hostile 
dart will reach you, far less wound you. On the 
contrary — you rest and gather strength while the 
foe exhausts himself uselessly, and "all the fiery 
darts of the wicked are quenched." 

This method of fighting is especially adapted to 



Behind the Shield 63 

the people, and it is the age of the people, also in 
the church of our Lord. The future does not re- 
quire a great chieftain with a host of good-for- 
nothings behind him, but an army whose every in- 
dividual is trained in the use of the shield of faith. 

When Mr. Moeller-Anderson, a Dane with a 
warm and faithful heart, a Dane whose quiet ways 
his compatriots abroad do not forget — in the sum- 
mer of 1888 made regular sailing trfps from Copen- 
hagen to Sweden for the sake of his health, it hap- 
pened one day aboard the vessel that some scoffers 
wished to have fun with him. They may have 
thought that it would be an easy matter to subdue 
him. They, therefore, started a conversation with 
him, but soon their speech changed to scoffing and 
witty questions, daring attacks upon Christianity. 
Then Mr. Moeller-Anderson replied: "I don't 
know how that all may be, and I cannot answer 
you, but if you wish to know what my faith is, then 
I will confess my faith through the Apostles' Creed 
before you right here !" 

The scoffers had nothing more to say! 

What had Mr. Moeller-Anderson done which 
made them silent? Had he told them a striking 
joke which could not be commented upon, or had 
he stated a cleverly formulated truth which they 
could not resist? No, he rested behind the shield 
and the scoffers realized that he was protected. 

You Christian man and woman from the every- 
day walks of life — when you meet the scoffers, then 
don't try to find clever thoughts with which to de- 
fend Christianity, as though that were your way 
to victory. In that case it would merely become a 



64 A Christmas Gift 

question as to which side was supported by the 
greatest wisdom, the most cleverly pointed shrewd- 
ness. The great struggle of the world is the strug- 
gle of faithj and it must by no means be changed into 
a chaos of personal trickery and clever stratagems. 
Above all, grasp the shield of faith instead of re- 
sorting to your own wisdom and cleverness. Say 
your creed plainly and simply, you mother of a 
child, you master of the home, you young man and 
woman among your chums, when you meet the devil 
and his wiles in the form of clever questions for- 
mulated so as to entangle you in self-contradictions — 
catch you in the net of words as formerly the Phari- 
sees and the Herodians tried to catch Jesus asking: 
Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar? 

You often hear it said : You claim that God loveth 
mankind : But why, then, does He let some suffer in 
all eternity? Or, you claim that you have a good 
Father in Heaven who can do everything: How is 
it, then, that He lets His children suffer distress on 
earth? etc. — Say it plainly and simply: Well, I 
can't answer questions like these, for I do not see 
through all these things, but if you want to know 
what my faith is regarding salvation, then I will 
confess my creed right here before you! That's to 
rest behind the shield, and you will feel how blissful 
that is compared with the fight by wisdom and rea- 
soning in which there is the fear of being wounded 
and vanquished, and of rendering harm unto Chris- 
tianity by attempting an unsuccessful defence. 

Behind the shield of faith: there is victory both 
when you fight and when you rest! 

Paul was not afraid of fighting. Neither must 



Behind the Shield 65 



we be. But that fight which gives victory without 
wounds, without one painful sensation to limit the 
joy of victory, must be directed from a covered 
position. And the agility necessary to enable one 
to seek cover behind the shield of faith is obtained 
only by daily training. Therefore, train yourself 
every morning to protect yourself by the words of 
faith before going to your work and fight your fight ; 
and in the evening when you lie down to rest, 
you must train yourself so that in fight as well as 
during the lull, you can be covered by the shield of 
faith ; then you will conquer the wiles of the devil, 
and his fiery darts will not wound you. 

Thus I consider it essential for the church of 
the Lord in the twentieth century that it learns how 
to use the shield rightly whether in fight or at rest. 
The struggle of the church will then result in a 
greater victory and in fewer wounds than during 
the last century, and its rest will become increas- 
ingly beneficent and strengthening while its rest- 
lessness will become less nervous and less strength- 
consuming. 

Wonder if the time has not come when the 
church, driven by inner friction and by enemies 
from without, will listen readily to the apostolic 
warning: "Above all, take the shield of faith, 
wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery 
darts of the wicked." 

I look forward to the day when the Apostles' 
Creed becomes the universal slogan for all Chris- 
tian organizations. Then the church of the Lord 
will march forward to victory. 



LOVE ME— AND TELL ME SO 

A N English bishop was traveling in India to in- 
"^■^spect the mission work, and when his journey 
was completed, a farewell gathering was held in his 
honor. On this occasion the bishop spoke on the 
words: "Love me — and tell me so!" 

He had often asked himself whether his congre- 
gation at home really loved him. He thought it 
did ; but sometimes he couldn't help wishing: If they 
only would say so ! Now he wished to say, by way 
of a parting greeting, to the Christians: Love your 
ministers, and let them know that you do! They 
need your love, and they need to be told that you 
actually do love them. 

This little speech reached England before the 
bishop arrived there. When, upon reaching home, 
his congregation received him with a banquet. On 
the wall of the hall, just opposite the main entrance 
door, was an inscription in large letters ornamented 
by leaves and flowers: "We love you, and we are 
saying so." That was the first thing the bishop saw, 
and he rejoiced. 

Love me, and tell me so ! That's the cry from 
thousands of souls yearning for love, and where 
the cry finds an answer the heart rejoices. Where 
no answer comes, life will be utterly miserable. 

Once upon a time a wealthy woman met a poor 
66 



Love Me— and Tell Me So 67 

orphan who looked imploringly at her. "What do 
you want me to give you?" she asked. "O, just 
like me a little bit!" the orphan answered. 

O, just love me just a little bit! 

I have seen that prayer where one should least 
expect it — I have read it in the eyes of a mother 
when they rested upon her grown-up daughter. She 
had indeed grown, was taller even than her mother. 
And then she had received an education — mother 
surely could be proud of such a big and fine girl who 
had learned so much ! But a mother's heart finds 
no sustenance in mere pride. It required delight in 
the daughter — and there is delight only in love. But 
the girl went about so fine and big and cold while 
the mother, even as the poor orphan, implored, O, 
love me just a little bit ! 

All you nice and big children: Remember that 
mother and father need your love! Love them — 
and tell them that you do! You can tell them in a 
number of ways, and it will be rewarded, for in 
love there is a world of joy. 

Love me — and tell me so ! O, love me just a 
little bit ! 

I have read that prayer in the eyes of a wife: 
Her husband was a man in whom she surely could 
take delight. He was efficient; everybody admired 
him, women especially, and he seemed to like every- 
body. Indeed, she could be proud of such a hus- 
band ! There were plenty of women who envied 
her and wished themselves in her place. And — 
how beautifully he could speak of domestic love — 
women were deeply touched, and their eyes mois- 



68 A Christmas Gift 

tened when he did so. O, if they only had such a 
husband — but such a one had not fallen to their 
lot! 

He had plenty of smiles and kind words and 
love for everybody else — only not for his wife who 
sat at home. Hard-hearted, frigid and haughty he 
passed her by when she sat with the baby on her 
knee, with despair penetrating all her features, and 
the one prayer was flaming in her eye: O, love me 
just a little bit — just a little bit, O, please do ! 

Love me — and tell me so! O, love me just a 
little bit ! That has been written in the eye of ever 
so many poor and forlorn human beings — espe- 
cially among those who seemed to have become sadly 
superfluous in the busy life of the world. Now 
and then I have heard just such people say, with a 
strange mingling of wistfulness and joy vibrating 
in their voice: To think that the minister would 
call upon me! Nobody else ever comes here. No- 
body cares about me any more ! 

Thus many a man or woman has been placed in 
that miserable kind of solitude in the midst of 
throbbing life. Nobody cares about me. Love me 
— and tell me so! O, love me just a little bit, 
please! That's the cry from the depth of their 
hearts, but it is uttered as though in some limitless 
desert: No answering sound is heard — there is no 
sign that anyone cares for them. This is heart- 
rending. 

Yes, that is true. But if these lines of mine might 
reach some such poor soul, then I would say: It 
isn't quite as bad as this. Let your yearning for 



Love Me — and Tell Me So 69 

love soar upward to that God who listens to the 
sighs of the heart of dust, and then you will hear 
the response : I love you — and I tell you that I 
do. I have told you so through my only begotten 
Son: "For God so loved the world, that He gave 
His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in 
Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." 

This has been said to mankind plainly enough. 
And these plain words are not merely written in the 
leaves of the Book of Books. They are inscribed 
in the very life of mankind with the blood of the 
only begotten Son. 

Such words are not merely for the happy world 
surrounding you. It means you — just exactly you 
who are yearning for love: For your sake these 
words have been spoken. 

But we who are more fortunately situated — we 
who enjoy the love of God and of our fellow-beings, 
and who, in return, love those in our homes, in 
our circle of acquaintances and in the church — let 
us tell one another about it in a good and nice way. 
So much joy of love is lost — just because it finds 
no expression. For this reason so many gradually 
come to doubt that they really are being loved. 

The congregation wrote it on the wall of the 
festival hall, ornamented with leaves and flowers. 
It went out of its way to say it in just such a 
way as to make its old bishop feel deeply delighted. 

It pays to exert yourself in this way. 

Let it be written with large letters between min- 
ister and congregation, between man and wife, be- 
tween parents and children — yes, let it be written 



70 A Christmas Gift 

with large letters — and wind about them the leaves 
of the forest, the flowers of the field — everywhere: 
We love you, and we tell you so ! Then our lives 
will become rich with the joy of love. 



TO BEAR BURDENS 

(Gal. 6, 2) 

O EAR ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill 
-^the law of Christ," Paul says. 

"No, thank you!" you say, "I have quite enough 
in taking care of my own burdens. If I am to be 
troubled with those of others in addition, life will be 
intolerable." 

Nevertheless — do you think Paul speaks aimless- 
ly? Or isn't it rather the case that there is some- 
thing of relief in bearing burdens for others — some- 
thing of a gain? 

Think of a wheat field: One straw stands close 
beside the other. The wind-storm sweeps the field. 
The wheat bends down in billowy undulations un- 
der the heavy pressure of the wind, but rights itself 
stronger than ever before. The close-standing 
straws bore the pressure together. Then the wheat 
is harvested. A few straws are left standing. The 
wind again sweeps across the field, the lonely straws 
bend down to the soil — and lie there. They are 
broken. Singly, they could not resist the pressure 
of the storm. 

Thus in the life of mankind. Great burdens can 
be shouldered with ease when shouldered in com- 
mon while the smaller burdens may crush and de- 
stroy those who stand all alone. 
71 



72 A Christmas Gift 

There is relief in bearing burdens for others. 

But you ask: Dare I, a single individual, try 
to shoulder the burdens in my home, in the church? 
Suppose that in one or more instances I were the 
only one to do so. The others left it all to me, al- 
though they had the same obligations that I have — 
what then? Will I accomplish anything but being 
crushed under the weight of the burdens? 

How about Jesus Christ when He, all alone, 
bore the sin of mankind? He was wounded for 
our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniqui- 
ties, as the prophet had foreseen. 

But when He who was so strong, was wounded 
and crushed under the weight of the burdens — what 
will happen to me, then, when I shoulder the bur- 
dens of others ? I cannot do so cheerfully and cour- 
ageously and expect a satisfactory result. Rather I 
must flee timidly away from the burdens by re- 
calling what happened to our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Yes, if that was all that may be said about 
Jesus that He was "wounded and bruised" when 
He, out of the depths of His love, shouldered our 
burdens, then no doubt you are right. Then there 
is no prospect that you will do better. 

But that isn't all. 

After having been wounded and bruised under 
the weight of the burdens, bent to the ground, in- 
deed, bent in death, He arose with the mark of 
victory upon His brow, and with peace and healing 
for us. 

Yea, peace and healing! 

That was the last, the ultimate result. And it 
is the law in His church that wherever we shoul- 



To Bear Burdens 73 

der one another's burdens, we shall find peace and 
healing. 

We may be wounded, indeed crushed, under the 
heavy pressure of those burdens. We may be bent 
down into the dust, but that is not the last, the 
ultimate result. 

It is peace and healing. 

Thus it is not only a relief to bear one another's 
burdens; it is the highway to peace and healing. 
We can extract this blessed fruit from out of the 
burdens. How splendid to be able to bear the 
burdens of everyday life with and for one another 
and to gain peace and healing for those who are 
timid and bruised. This is the last and final result 
of bearing one another s burden in the name of 
Jesus. 



BE STEADFAST IN PRAYER! 

I. A Gain and a Protection 

Q PRAY forme! 

^ That is one of the cries that frequently 
come to us from the sick and the dying — sometimes 
because they have not themselves learned how to 
pray in the days that passed, but always with the 
consciousness that prayer is needed. 

Pray! sayeth our Lord Jesus Christ, for it is 
helpful to pray. And on the background of nearly 
two thousand years of actual experience His church 
responds: Indeed, it is helpful to pray! 

"Ask, and it shall be given you . . . for every- 
one that asketh receiveth . . . Or what man is 
there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he 
give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give 
him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how 
to give good gifts unto your children, how much 
more shall your Father which is in heaven give 
good things to them that ask him?" (Mat. 7, 7, 
etc.) 

The prayer is a gain to us since we have such a 
generous Father who will not refuse us anything 
good, and who has it in His power to give us 

alL 

But the prayer also is a protection. "Watch and 

pray, that ye enter not into temptation" (Mat. 26, 

74 



Be Steadfast in Prayer! 75 

41). The ability to be absorbed in prayer is a 
protection against temptations, and in the prayer 
strength and fortitude are secured with which to 
resist the temptations. 

In complete realization of this the Apostles con- 
tinuously implore us to pray. 

Make the prayer a regular and constant feature of 
your daily life. Don't let it be a matter of chance 
whether you offer a prayer or not. Don't let every 
insignificant hindrance prevent you from saying your 
prayer. Many of the ancient leaders in the church 
of the Lord set aside several hours a day, parts of 
their most propitious working time, for praying — 
and considered that a gain. Thus Luther often de- 
voted three or four hours a day to constant prayer. 
You may not accomplish anything like that, but you 
are able, nevertheless, to give the prayer a fixed and 
constant place on your schedule for every day, and 
then you will experience that it is a gain and a pro- 
tection ; for "prayer brings down from Heaven the 
peace of God; it brings down the strength to love 
and revere Him ; it brings down from Above relief 
in the hour of distress, and it brings infinite com- 
fort at the moment of death." 

2. What Mother Taught Me 

A chaplain at one of our insane asylums related 
the following: 

One day when he had been preaching a sermon 
to these poor, insane people among whom only a few 
were able to make out what he said, one of them 
came to him and announced: "I, too, can pray!" 



76 A Christmas Gift 

The chaplain stopped surprised, because the man 
was completely an idiot. He had forgotten every- 
thing — his name, his age, his home; about these 
things he could give no information whatever. 
Somewhat doubtfully, the chaplain asked him: 
"What can you pray?" 

The poor fellow righted himself a little and an- 
swered: "What mother taught me" ; he then folded 
his hands and spoke the following verse with per- 
fect ease, and without mistakes: 

Lord Jesus, who dost love me, 
O, spread thy wings above me, 
And shield me from alarm. 

Everything was forgotten. Not one event in his 
life was he able to recall in his memory. Every- 
thing had been left out of his soul, out of his 
memoiy — only not that one prayer his mother had 
taught him. 

I have myself had a somewhat similar experi- 
ence. It was a Dane who was not wholly demented 
— rather what is known in the vernacular as "crazy" 
— and a little more. He never did any harm, and 
for that reason he was sent to the poor-house 
instead of to an insane asylum. Whenever he found 
an opportunity, he made his escape, and once in a 
while he came to my home — once at eventide and he 
was then allowed to stay overnight. In the evening 
he sat plucking at his clothes just like a child, and 
he then said: "I'm clean enough, all right." A 
little later he said: "I ain't forgotten how to pray 
— want to hear me?" Then he folded his hands and 



Be Steadfast in Prayer! 77 

spoke two little verses of the kind a mother teaches 
her very young child. These he could remember. 
It was the same thing over again: What mother 
taught me. 

Remember this, you Christian mothers! 

3. The Evening Prayer: A Protection 

Above all, it is important to give the evening 
prayer a fixed and permanent place in the daily 
schedule of our life. When we intend to pray for 
something, the time at which it is done may be 
relatively immaterial, but if we think of the prayer 
as a protection, the evening prayer goes before any- 
thing else. 

And why? 

Because it requires the peaceful quiet of eventide 
— and the same thing is true about all kinds of silly 
fun and of evil. In point of time, the evening 
prayer meets with the tempting voices of wickedness 
that sound with the greatest irresistance in the 
darkness. A decisive battle thus takes place be- 
tween the tempting voices of wickedness and the 
evening prayer — a battle about time ; it is a Whether 
— Or, for to divide the time in twain in this matter 
is impossible. It is not possible to devote one eve- 
ning hour to wickedness, and the other to prayer. 
Then, if the evening prayer is given a regular place 
in one's everyday life, it is a protection against the 
temptations. 

Therefore the evening prayer should be a part of 
the child's life even 'way back in the days of the 
cradle. And therefore we praise the fact that 



78 A Christmas Gift 

the evening prayer is just that prayer which it is 
easiest for a mother to make a part of the every- 
day life of the child ; this is not a mere accident, but 
is due to that grace of God which descends upon 
Christian mothers. Say the evening prayer with 
your child, and for your child, every evening when 
you tuck him or her into bed — do it even before the 
babbling voice of the child is able to say the words 
after you — and do never miss an evening ! 

The evening prayer which has thus been im- 
planted in the heart of the child because of the 
privilege and the intense love granted to the mother- 
heart, and which is to be protected by that same 
love throughout the years to come, will prove to be 
a real protection to the child during its earliest 
youth, which is just the very time when it stands 
most in need of protection because the tempting 
voices of wickedness resound with the greatest 
power in its own breast. For that reason the time 
of youth is that period of our life when we stand 
most in need of the evening prayer. 

Loving parents often are somewhat worried when 
they discuss the day that the children must go out 
into the world. Now and then a tear drops from 
the mother's eye when she thinks that her half- 
grown boy or girl soon must leave home. It is not 
because of worry for their future, economically 
speaking, nor always because of the thought of 
separation — but it is the fear; How will they come 
out? Will they listen to the voices of wickedness, 
find evil associates, forget both God and their par- 
ents so that they rather seek the saloon and the 
dance hall than the home of their childhood? Of 



Be Steadfast in Prayer I 79 

course, you may say: It won't be as bad as that! 
And, praised be God — these things do not happen 
in a great many instances. But the danger is there, 
and the temptations are ever present — and many a 
young man and woman who during childhood were 
the very joy and pride of their parents, succumb 
to the temptations and suffer during their youth 
such defeat that recovery is possible only much later 
in life or — never: 

You suffer for that through many years 
which only was briefest delight 

But to comfort such parents let me say: Let 
the evening prayer find a fixed and permanent place 
in the life of the child from the very days of the 
cradle — then you have built a fortification about it 
which will guard and protect it at all times because 
it has become an essential part of itself. The eve- 
ning prayer of its mother is the last thing the child 
ever forgets — that which it is most difficult to part 
with. It does not yield to a little push or two, but 
will powerfully assert its right to occupy the seat of 
honor in the heart, and it will insist that the quiet 
hours of eventide belong to it by right. And even 
though the child throw its mother's evening prayer 
overboard in order better to heed the tempting 
voices of wickedness, he or she will be conscious of 
restlessness and uneasiness in the depths of the heart, 
until that demand is met which the evening prayer 
makes. Yes, even though the child may time and 
again scoff haughtily at the evening prayer and thus 
apparently get far enough to push it away with all 



80 A Christmas Gift 

the silly "nerve" of the age of adolescence and to 
conquer it — that time will come, is sure to come, 
when the memory of it and the memory of mother 
awakens in the child's heart and revives in loving 
remembrance so that the evening prayer resumes its 
permanent place in the life of the child. The mem- 
ory of mother will be a treasure to the child who 
only then realizes that the evening prayer proved 
a protection against the plentifulness of tempta- 
tions. She will receive the gratitude shown her with 
child-like reverence, because she implanted the eve- 
ning prayer in the heart of the child. That was one 
of the mother's deeds of love that became the great- 
est blessing throughout the storm-tossed time of 
youth. When everything else sinks into forgetful- 
ness, it will still be remembered "what mother 
taught me"! 

4. The Morning Prayer: A Gain 

It is a little more difficult to give the morning 
prayer a fixed place in our life than the evening 
prayer, because in the morning we feel strengthened 
by sleep and are in a hurry to get to our work. But 
if we thus seem to think that we cannot find time to 
say a morning prayer, let us remember the old 
proverb: "In prayer is no delay," and if there are 
other reasons — petty things that have hindered us — 
then let us summon our will and say to ourselves: 
/ want to! The morning prayer is henceforth to 
have a fixed place in my everyday life and in my 
home, and I think everything will go well: In 
prayer is no delay. 



Be Steadfast in Prayer! 8 1 

Just as the evening prayer because of the signifi- 
cance of time is particularly adapted as a protection 
against temptation, so the morning prayer for a cor- 
responding reason is especially fit to prove a gain 
to us. 

When we arise in the morning, the day is facing 
us, and it is of importance that we approach our 
work with willingness and high hopes — whether the 
work be that of the intellectual or the manual lab- 
orer. But, how often is it not the case that we 
approach our work slovenly and sourly — with the 
consequence that we feel it a burden and a dif- 
ficulty. We do not discover that rest and that joy 
in the work which God bestowed upon it. The 
work becomes nothing but unwillingly done toil, 
and the day seems long and weary. 

By way of suggesting a preventive I know of 
nothing better than to start the day with a morning 
prayer. It stimulates the willingness to work, to 
begin the day by thanking God for the night that 
has vanished, and to pray for blessing upon the work 
of the coming day. It imparts joy of living. It 
makes it easier to discover the rest and the delight 
in work, no matter how exerting that may be. 

How often is it not the case that the man who is 
ready to go to his work, gets up silently and grouch- 
ingly, washes himself and sits down at the table: 
Breakfast is not yet ready, and his wife gets for this 
reason some nagging reproaches. At last the meal 
is served. Silently the man partakes of his break- 
fast, takes his hat and his dinnerpail, remarks sulkily 
that now he is going — and goes. Such a start prom- 
ises a cheerless day for both man and wife. He 



82 A Christmas Gift 

goes to his shop or field with head bent low and 
his mind heavy while his wife takes up her duties 
at home — without cheer. 

How different would not the day and the work 
be for the man and wife if they could unite in a 
little morning prayer and part with the words of 
the poet upon their lips: 

Then gladly we go 

Each to his work 

Relying upon God's grace. 

Thus gaining strength 

To be of use, as God wills 

In the very best way we know. 

And that applies to all of us. 

We all need to be told that we should go to our 
work with more gladness, rely more upon the grace 
of God, get more and more strength and joy where- 
with to do our work so as to please God. To this 
end, the morning prayer is an incentive, and that is 
why I consider it a gain. 

Just as the time of youth is the period when we 
stand most in need of the evening prayer because the 
temptations then are the strongest and meet with 
least resistance on our part, so we need the morning 
prayer the most at the time of maturity because it 
then is of particular importance that we 

gain strength 

To be of use, as God wills, 

In the very best way we know. 



Be Steadfast in Prayer! 83 

This does not mean that there is any time in our 
lives that we do not need the evening prayer as well 
as the morning prayer. Indeed, we need both 
throughout our entire life, for we are always in 
want of protection against temptations, always in 
need of gaining increasing joy of living and happi- 
ness. Therefore, let us give^both a fixed and per- 
manent place in our everyday life and thus try to 
become "steadfast in prayer." 

And in that steadfast prayer the Apostles' Creed 
and the Lord's Prayer must be absorbed as an in- 
separable part. 



ZACCHiEUS 

I. To Be Home By Oneself 

AND, behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus, 
"^which was the chief among the publicans, and 
he was rich." 

Consequently he must have been a happy man, 
many would think, for the conditions of happiness 
are riches and prominent positions. But Zacchasus 
was no happy man. 

He may, of course, have experienced a certain de- 
gree of delight or happiness while he was so busily 
occupied in making money and in forging ahead 
until he reached the very top of the publicans' lad- 
der; now, however, when he had accomplished all 
that — he was not happy, at all. 

How could that be? 

I believe at that time perhaps he had lived his 
life outside himself, as it were, and been wholly 
absorbed by his official duties. But now that he 
found time to be home by himself, and to be oc- 
cupied with the inner world of his soul, he heard 
in there an accusing voice which told him : You are 
a sinful man, Zacchteus! And the man who is 
sinful, is not happy. 

What should he do? 

He might devote himself once more to the mania 
for gathering wealth, might thrust himself energet- 
84 



Zacchaus 85 



ically back into the work. Or he might devote 
himself to the merry life of society — seek pleasures, 
the remedy which the world offers to those who are 
afflicted with wounded souls. But in both cases he 
would once more be forced to live his life outside 
himself. He did not like that. It would be too 
much like taking flight from oneself. 

But there was a third way — that of the repenting 
sinner. He chose that. People referred to him by 
calling him a sinful man, and sighingly he had to 
admit that the people were right. He understood 
that now since he was home by himself — O, could 
but his sin be stricken out! 

Now there was this Man, Jesus of Nazareth! 
Wasn't He the same one whom John the Baptist 
had spoken of as the Lamb of God, which taketh 
away the sin of the world? And was not He the 
same one who had said to a poor fellow sick of the 
palsy: "Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be for- 
given thee!" If he might only see Him! 

Suddenly streets resounded with the cry: Jesus 
of Nazareth is coming! Zacchseus got busy, ran 
on ahead and climbed unto a tree. Hidden by the 
dense leafage there, he would have a chance of see- 
ing Jesus — why, He is coming right there — He 
actually stops at the tree, looks up, sees him, and 
says: "Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down; 
for today I must abide by thy house!" And he 
made haste, and came down, and received Him joy- 
fully. And when they saw it, they all murmured, 
saying that He was gone to be guest with a man 
that is a sinner. But Zacchaeus stood, and said 
unto the Lord : Behold, Lord, the half of my goods 



86 A Christmas Gift 

i give to the poor, and if I have taken anything 
from any man by false accusation, I restore him 
fourfold. And Jesus said unto him: This day is 
salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also 
is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man is come 
to seek and to save that which was lost. 
He was son of Abraham ! 



As Abraham had learned how to be home by him- 
self and to say, "I am but dust and ashes" — thus 
Zacchaeus had come home to himself when he real- 
ized that he was a sinner. And as Abraham was 
willing to sacrifice his son, his heart's treasure, 
thus Zacchaeus had come to the point where he 
was willing to sacrifice half of what was his — 
that dear, dear property which his heart had loved 
so fervently and to which it had been attached for 
many years. That had been the most precious 
treasure of his heart. 

To be home by oneself humbles. To live out- 
side oneself makes haughty, and God is displeased 
with those who are haughty while He bestows His 
grace on those who are humble. 



"For today I must abide by thy house," Jesus 
says. 

Why? Because Zacchaeus could be found at 
home. Jesus always knocks on the doors of those 
hearts where He knows He finds someone at home. 
He must abide there. 

To the men of our own age the danger of living 



Zacchteus 87 



outside themselves in their work and business, is 
great. Our age suffers from a tension which was 
not known in bygone days. If a man is to surge 
ahead, he must let his business absorb his entire 
strength. Therefore, it is so difficult for Jesus 
to find men at home when He knocks at the door 
of their heart, and therefore so few men are to be 
found in the church on the Lord's day. Women are 
not in the same measure tempted to live their lives 
outside themselves. 

But Zacchseus stands like one who admonishes 
the man of our age: Try to be at home by your- 
self, in your own soul. That is the road you must 
wander if you are to find happiness. 



2. All Forgiven — Nothing In Vain 

"This day is salvation come to this house." To 
Zacchasus this means: Your sin has been forgiven — 
all has been stricken out. 

Rev. Mr. Funcke relates how he on a certain 
occasion called upon Dr. Kogel in Berlin — a man 
who was paralyzed and unable to move. He pitied 
Dr. Kogel — regretted that this man, formerly so 
stately and erect, should sit thus crouching, but Dr. 
Kogel said: "Rejoice with me — God hath forgiven 
all my sins !" 

In a cemetery in Southern Germany there are 
two tombstones with strange inscriptions ; one reads : 
Forgiven! and the other, In Vain! 

Beneath the former rests the dust of a woman 
who through her extraordinary beauty fascinated a 



88 A Christmas Gift 

number of admirers. They seduced her, made her 
run away from her husband and children, and when 
once she had entered the life of immorality, she 
went swiftly down the grade. She developed into a 
criminal and was imprisoned. In the penitentiary 
she came home by herself, and here Jesus found 
her. When she left the institution, she went back 
to her husband and children and proved a bless- 
ing to her home; as a humble, Christian woman she 
did not spare herself for the sake of those whom 
she loved. But when death drew near, she asked 
them to inscribe upon her tombstone that one word, 
Forgiven! This word was a world to her, was 
everything. Her sin forgiven by God, forgiven by 
mankind. 

Yes, when everything is forgiven we can rejoice 
at being home by ourselves. But we need still one 
thing more before our joy is perfect. We want to 
be told that we have not lived in vain. 

Zacchasus knows how to appreciate salvation. In 
proof of his gratitude he gives half of his goods to 
the poor. It is more blessed to give than to re- 
ceive. Formerly he had felt a certain joy whenever 
he could add a sum of a hundred to his fortune — 
but how paltry that joy was compared to the joy of 
giving! That could not possibly have been done in 
vain. 

Jesus said to His disciples: And whosoever shall 
give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of 
cold water only, verily I say unto you, he shall in 
no wise lose his reward. No offering of thanks for 
salvation is in vain. It brings bliss. It will get 
its reward — from the greatest offer of thanks which 



Zacch&us 89 



we can afford to give, down to the smallest — a 
kind word, a friendly clasping of hands, a cup of 
cold water. Nothing of all this shall be in vain. 
But he who lives outside himself, absorbed by the 
cravings for ever more riches, lives in vain even 
though he may become a millionaire. 

Are you not in need of having written above all 
of your life and all your doings that one great word, 
Forgiven! And are you not in need of being as- 
sured that you have not lived in vain? You may 
not have been able to bring the magnificent sacrifices 
which the world lauds in the newspaper columns, 
and you may easily be led into the belief that you 
have lived in vain; but then you shall know that 
the Lord who is the King of Kings and the Judge 
of all and everything, will reward also that which 
looks insignificant and small in the eyes of the 
world. Nothing of that which you do as His dis- 
ciple, is done in vain. 

Above the life of the children of the world one 
might place the inscription: Nothing forgiven — 
everything in vain! Above the lives of Christians: 
Everything forgiven — nothing in vain. 

Isn't that so, then: Christians have glorious 
days ! 

What terms do you choose? 



3. During the Following Days 

It was a day of joy to Zacchaeus when Jesus 

entered his house. But how were the following 
days ? 



90 A Christmas Gift 

Undoubtedly there were daj^s when the old greedi- 
ness tempted him again. When the people of Israel 
in a miraculous way had been helped across the Red 
Sea, they were saved from the armed hosts of the 
Egyptians, but not from their plagues. The Egyp- 
tian soldiers had been drowned in the waves of the 
Red Sea, but the Egyptian temptations accompanied 
Israel across the sea and made the wanderings in 
the desert beset with hardships and difficulties. 
Indeed, they often, in their worldly hearts, reverted 
to the thought: Would it not, after all, have been 
better to return and to partake of the plentiful pro- 
visions of Egypt than to fight their way laboriously 
onward to the promised landf 

Likewise the tempter undoubtedly has often whis- 
pered to Zacchaeus : After all, wouldn't it have been 
wiser to gather money than to give it away as an 
offering in return for salvation? But then Zac- 
chsus in his mind reverted to that great day when 
Jesus for the first time was a guest in his house, 
and his thoughts have lived that day over and over 
again — No, never was I as happy as on the day 
when I gave half of my goods to the poor, and never 
have I been able to make as many people happy as on 
that day. The offering had not been given in vain. 
So the old greediness had to yield to the benevolent 
impulse. 

But that very same thought may come to you and 
me: Wouldn't it, after all, be wiser to get a lot 
of money together than to give it away in the name 
of the Lord to mission work, to churches and 
schools, to the poor, the sick and the suffering? 

No ! And once again : No ! For that person in 



Zacchteus 91 



whose heart greediness has triumphed, has lived in 
vain even though he may have gathered thousands 
of dollars. He has contributed to the increase of 
the Ijfeless capital of mankind, but not to its joy 
of living, to its happiness. But he or she who 
brings offerings in the name of Jesus, increases the 
joy of living and happiness of mankind by just that 
much. Perhaps he has struggled along laboriously 
to reach the promised land of joy and happiness. 
His life has attained a meaning both to himself and 
to others — and he has not lived in vain. 



THE MARCH OF EVENTS 

(Lu. 24, 29) 

A BIDE with us; for it is toward evening, and 
^•*-the day is far spent." 

Thus the two disciples spoke to Jesus in the after- 
noon of Easter Sunday when they were at the vil- 
lage called Emmaus. The march of events on Good 
Friday had excited them greatly: Should really 
the powers of evil vanquish even Him of whom they 
had expected that He would redeem Israel? This 
thought was so utterly distressing. And what would 
happen to themselves? For also within their hearts 
evil had a firm hold, and they were not able to con- 
quer it. 

Thinking along these lines the two disciples 
walked toward Emmaus. It was as though the 
heart would be crushed under the weight of the 
events, but then Jesus came, and He told them that 
the march of events was not a series of sad and dis- 
tressing chances. It behooved Christ to suffer and 
then to assume His glory. This was felt as a re- 
lief. 

Was this, too, plannedhy the God of Israel? 

They were not quite able to comprehend it. 

Neither did they know who was speaking to them ; 

but when they were at Emmaus and He made as if 

to go on, they implored Him : "Abide with us ; for 

92 



The March of Events 93 

it is toward evening, and the day is far spent!" 
It was such a comfort to listen to His words. In 
them was that healing power which crushed hearts 
needed — O, would He but tarry with them ! 

So He went inside with them, and when He broke 
the bread, their eyes were opened, and they saw it 
was Jesus Himself — that very same Jesus whom 
they had believed perished under the burden of the 
events of Good Friday. 

Then they did rejoice. 



Yes, Lord, abide with us; for it is toward even- 
ing, and the day is far spent! 

Let us first of all think of our own life-day. 
None of us knows how nigh is the evening. We 
may be near the final hour, both you and I, even 
though our hair as yet has no silver tinge. And if 
we, with this possibility in view, review the march 
of events in our own lives, we see much which we 
would like to change — if we but could. How often 
have not the powers of evil been victorious in our 
lives, as they were on that Good Friday! That 
thought grips the heart wistfully. And a little way 
ahead: That dark power death — "the difficult 
death" as a modern writer has said. O, how in- 
tensely we wish that so many things could be 
thought over and lived over once more ! 

But when we thus review the march of events in 
our own life, we sigh: "Hearest thou also us, thou 
Son of Grace !" For the only one who can relieve 
our suffering is Jesus Christ; His abiding by us as 



94 A Christmas Gift 

the Son of Grace is the great surcease, for He comes 
from Heaven with grace enough with which to 
cover all our shortcomings, all our sins, and with 
healing for all those wounds which have been in- 
flicted upon us in the course of the march of events. 
It is, indeed, a blessing to know that just what we 
are yearning for from the very depth of our' soul 
is what He rejoices most in giving us. We shall 
not pray in vain. 

But it was not Gnly what we had thought and 
what we had done. There was so much in the 
march of events which was sad and incomprehen- 
sible. Was that an evil power which from without, 
by chance, disrupted our life? Was it a series of 
happenings without aim, without meaning? In that 
case we stand in need of listening to the words of 
Jesus: It behooves you to suffer this, and then to 
enter into My glory. The saddest events in our 
earthly life are like dark viaducts which lead us 
forward to glory. They, too, lead us to salvation. 
It is relieving when this becomes quite clear to us. 
We feel like the disciples when listening to the 
words of the Lord: There is comfort and healing 
in them. And then we can rejoice even though it is 
toward evening. We have no fear, we shudder not, 
at the thought that the end of the day is drawing 
nigh — for that draws us closer to the glory, and 
death will be the last dark passage through whicli 
we must wend our way. 

But if we look round about us it seems to me that 
it is toward evening for this world. The end of 
the long day of the life of the world is drawing 
nigh, and by the words of the Lord we know that 



The March of Events 95 

the march of events in the last days will not be 
cheerful for the Christians. The powers of evil 
shall arise against the Lord and His church, just as 
they did during that Easter week, and they will 
unite in one final outburst of desperate strength for 
the purpose of conquering. Then it will be seen 
decisively once more that the church is fighting prin- 
cipalities and powers, the masters of the world, and 
the spiritual hosts under the sky. The bow will be 
bent for this final struggle — and the world already 
now is singing a hymn of victory. 

What shall we do? 

We can change the march of events as little as 
could those early disciples. We may try a strug- 
gle as did Peter at Gethsemane — may perhaps evea 
inflict a small wound on someone, but in our use of 
the sword there is no prospect of victory. We must 
have Him with us who on that Shrove Thursday 
spoke to the henchmen of wickedness with such 
might that they fell to the ground at the very sound 
of His words. Therefore, we are in need of pray- 
ing, Abide with us, Lord, not only as the Son of 
Grace, but as the Lord of Strength — indeed, as the 
Lord of Strength we need Him when we survey 
the march of events in the world. 

As little as at that time is He now powerless. 
But as it behooved Him to suffer these things and 
then enter into glory, so it also behooves His church 
during the last ages to bear those sufferings which 
the march of events carries in its wake, and then 
enter into glory; but, the Lord of Strength will 
shorten those last days (Mat. 24, 22). Here it is 
once more true that these events are not so many 



96 A Christmas Gift 

sad accidents and painful happenings of chance with- 
out aim or meaning. No, they, too, must be made 
to serve the reign of the Lord, and to help the 
church on its road to glory. But only the Lord of 
Strength is able to make the events work together 
in unison, under all circumstances, for the purpose 
of our s an ctifi cation. Only He can make dusk of 
the evening change into dawn for His church. 

Therefore, we pray: "Abide with us; for it is 
toward evening, and the day is far spent." Yea, 
abidest thou with us as the Son of Grace and as the 
Lord of Strength during the march of events, and 
assurest thou us more and more that no one is able 
to tear us away from thy hand! Assurest us that 
even the very darkest, the most distressing events, 
whether they affect the individual or the church in 
general, are merely dark passages which, through 
thy strength and grace, shall lead us forward to 
peace and joy, to eternal life and everlasting blessed- 
ness. Then we shall rejoice during the march of 
events. 



THE LITTLE WHILE 

Its Significance to the Life of Christians 

TT was during Easter week that Jesus spoke the 
word about the little while in which the disciples 
were not to see Him, and in which they would be 
brought to the very brink of despair while the 
world enjoyed itself in a fleeting exuberance of 
victory. The little while with its deep, its hopeless 
sorrow lasted for the disciples from Good Friday 
until Easter Sunday, and, forsooth, their weeping 
was heartrending, their plaints most gripping. Jesus 
had been taken away from them, and they did not 
understand that it behooved Him to suffer this and 
then to enter into glory; nor did they realize that 
they would themselves, in a little while, be mature, 
so as to win the world for the Lord who now had 
been nailed onto a cross. 

Darkness enveloped the earth for three hours so 
the rays of the sun were unable to penetrate it; 
but still denser was the spiritual darkness which had 
gathered about the disciples: There was no glimpse 
of light, no hope ! For He who, as they had hoped, 
was to have redeemed Israel, had breathed His last 
on the cross. The words of the Lord were literally 
fulfilled upon them; they wept and lamented. At 
this moment they were unable to cling to the promise 
of the Lord: "I will see you again, and your heart 
97 



98 A Christmas Gift 

shall rejoice and your joy no man taketh from you." 
But were we able at this moment to see the apos- 
tles before us and to ask them : What do you think 
of the brief hours of despair in your lives — and 
especially of that which was the most sorrowful of 
all? I am certain they would answer: It was, in- 
deed, a most significant "little while," and all the 
brief moments of despair throughout life have been 
so valuable that we could not have done without 
them. But if this were so, as far as the apostles 
were concerned, then it must be the same for us, and 
with this in view we will ask: 

What, then, is the meaning of the distressful 
"little whiles" to the life of Christiansf Those 
dark and burdensome hours when the tears moisten 
our eyes; and darkness gathers about our souls; 
those hours which we would rather be without but 
which we can so ill afford to dispense with. I might 
answer quite briefly thus: It is during those mo- 
ments that we are moulded by the hands of the 
Father as the children of light! I know for a cer- 
tainty that it was during just such moments that I 
became a servant of the Lord wishing from out of 
the depth of my soul to find the way from the evil 
world of deceit and darkness homeward to the 
eternal abodes of light. Therefore I thank the Lord 
also for those dark hours which came into my life, 
and therefore I by no means praise that man or 
woman happy who has known no such moments, but 
I do think he or she who has struggled through 
them to peace and rejoicing is happy. 

In order to understand fully the meaning of the 



The Little While 99 

sad moments in the life of mankind, we will recall 
a few of the great men of God. 

David was named the man according to the 
heart of God. But was he made that when he 
reached the highest pinnacle of his power and glory 
and when he with regal strength ruled the subdued 
neighboring nations? 

I hardly think so. 

It was rather during those bitter hours when he, 
weeping and bare-foot, was forced to flee before his 
own son, or when he with his heart writhing in 
anguish prayed: "Create in me a clean heart, O 
God, and renew a right spirit within me!" It was 
during such moments when he crouched in humilia- 
tion that he became disgusted with deceit and falsity, 
with the doings of darkness and the evil lust of the 
flesh. It was in such moments that he learned 
how to yearn from the depths of his heart for life 
itself: "Where thoughts are pure and deeds are un- 
blemished." 

When Peter had denied his Lord and Saviour 
thrice in the courtyard of the high priest and was 
standing without, bitter and heavy tears rolled down 
his cheeks; never in his life had Peter detested that 
denial as he did just then. How hideous it looked 
to him — to have denied Jesus ! Undoubtedly he was 
thinking by himself: O, could I but find an oppor- 
tunity of proclaiming Him once more — then I 
should do it with all the strength and sincerity of 
my heart. 

Or Thomas! We know that after hearing the 
testimony of the resurrection of Jesus he said : "Ex- 
cept I shall see in His hands the print of the nails, 



IOO A Christmas Gift 

and put my finger into the print of the nails, and 
thrust my hand into His side, I will not believe." 
Then, when he sees Jesus again and hears His 
gently reproachful, "Blessed are they that have not 
seen, and yet have believed" — how Thomas must 
have been disgusted with his infidelity, and how he 
must have reproached himself because he had in- 
vited the evil power of doubt and unbelief into his 
soul. That was to happen nevermore! 

These heavy hours were changed into rejoicing for 
such men. And it is the testimony of all men and 
women who have been blessed by the special grace 
of God that such "little whiles" have meant much 
to the development of their lives by giving it direc- 
tion, depth and sincerity. 

But how about you ? Have you had similar expe- 
riences ? 

Many of you probably will say: We know the 
hours of distress — we also know how deeply de- 
pressing they may be. Even though we may not 
have wept and lamented, like the first disciples, be- 
cause of the scorn and ridicule by the world, we 
often have shed tears that betrayed the presence of 
a wounded heart. But we did not go farther in 
our understanding of the meaning of the sorrowful 
moments. We have felt their pressure, but we 
have lost sight of their blessedness; we have been 
unable to discover the gain which they mean to our 
lives. 

Look to the depths of your own soul and then tell 
me: Do you not feel the hidden connection between 
the sin, as it had attained power in your soul, and 
the pressure of the brief, sorrow-laden moments? 



The Little While 101 

Have you not also in such moments felt a truer, a 
more sincere and deeper disgust with the evil char- 
acter of sin, than otherwise? Did not that wish 
soar upward from the very bottom of your soul: 
Would I were relieved of all that is evil so that I 
might live with "all my thoughts pure, and all my 
deeds unblemished"? 

But if you have felt this, then you already are 
somewhat conscious of the blessedness of the mo- 
ments of distress, for that is what is asked of us 
first of all. Without disgust with the evil being of 
sin we cannot renounce the devil and all his works 
and all his ways. 

But is that all to which the brief, sorrow-laden 
moments can guide and help us? No — the faith of 
the disciples was strengthened during the little 
while. It is true that their faith wavered in that 
while, and that it looked as though it would col- 
lapse, but this was not the agony of death, but the 
pangs of birth. 

Hitherto they had been accustomed to seeing 
Jesus and then believing in Him. Now that faith 
was to be born which would cling to him through 
His word without seeing Him. During the little 
while it looked as though Jesus had suffered defeat 
and the world had conquered. But after the resur- 
rection the disciples saw the meaning of it all: 
Jesus had taken death upon Himself not because He 
was vanquished but because the Father, in His un- 
fathomable wisdom and His eternal love, had thus 
decided it for the purpose of salvation. 

They knew now that no matter how discouraging 
the outlook might be, no matter how loudly the* 



102 A Christmas Gift 

world might proclaim its victory — His word was to 
be depended upon. And firm in this faith they 
went out to conquer the world for Jesus Christ 
after having received the spirit from Above. Often 
it looked to them as it did on Good Friday, but in- 
stead of weeping and lamenting they sang hymns of 
praise to the Lord fully convinced that He was the 
strongest. Their faith had been strengthened so as 
to bear the resistance of the world, and rejoicing 
had taken up its everlasting abode in their hearts. 
The little while had been the hour of birth of the 
faith which was to conquer all the world, and gain 
the eternal state of blessedness. 

Thus the little dark moments have a meaning in 
the lives of ChristianSj aside from filling us with 
detestation of the evil ways of sin. They must 
be hours of birth through which our faith shall 
emerge renewed and invigorated until it appears as 
that firm faith which wins the great victory over the 
world. 

And if there is anything of which we stand in 
need, in addition to being filled with horror at the 
phantoms of deceit, the evil ways of darkness — it is 
the firm faith and the eternal joy of blessedness 
which give us strength to become more and more 
the children of God, immaculate before His face, 
and by which we can be easily recognized as chil- 
dren of light in a world darkened by sin. 

The world still rejoices and still — after a strug- 
gle of almost two thousand years — thinks it shall 
conquer the church of the Lord. Now and then we 
are told that in another hundred years Christianity 
will be something entirely different, adjusted to the 



The Little While 103 

trend of thought — or that it will have lost all its 
strength. When we face this haughty scorn of the 
world, we need the firm belief that although the 
world thinks it will triumph, it will still collapse. 
For the Lord is Almighty: The great powerful 
world will never be able to remain longer, or to 
progress farther, than He permits. 

Then there is the joy which no one can take 
away from us. It is the joy of blessedness in which 
all the sorrows of life vanish, just as the pangs of 
brrth are lost in the exuberant joy of the thought 
that a new human being has been brought into the 
world. It is with the joy of blessedness as with 
maternal love: It is made through travail and suf- 
fering, and no one can take it away from us! 

Ah, how it irritated and angered Jews and 
heathen when they were unable to deprive the an- 
cient Christians of this joy even in the moment of 
death ! When Stephen appeared before the council, 
and his face was like the face of an angel because 
the joy of Heaven reposed within his soul — they 
cut to the heart and they gnashed with their teeth, 
cast him out of the city, and stoned him. But his 
joy they could not take away from him: Would 
that this might abide among us in greater fullness, 
for it is that very joy which gives us the touch of 
gentleness, mildness and loveliness! 

The Christian may say about the "little whiles" 
that are full of vexation, what Joseph said to his 
brethren: "God made everything right in order to 
do what He now hath done, and to preserve life.'* 
The "little whiles" may be heavy with trouble and 
sorrow, but it is an irremovable truth in the church 



104 A Christmas Gift 

of the Lord that He changes them into good pur- 
poses in order to preserve our lives. 

It must have been difficult for the disciples to un- 
derstand the Lord's word about the "little while" — 
and it is difficult for us amidst our adversity to ab- 
sorb thoroughly the fact that God will turn our 
sorrow into joy — that, forsooth, sorrow itself is 
pregnant with joy, shall become joy, and that these 
"little whiles" are necessary to the development and 
the ripening of the Christian life. It was only when 
the disciples had lived through the little while and 
seen the Lord once more that they understood His 
words. So also with us. The dark "little whiles" 
in our life are to be read — like the Hebraic scrip- 
tures — backward. Only when we have lived 
through these dark moments and when joy has found 
anew the way to our hearts, are we beginning to 
realize their meaning. 

They were hours of redemption and hours of 
birth. Through them we became disgusted with the 
evil ways of sin to such an extent that the Son of 
man found it possible to set us actually free. They 
were the hours of birth for the world-conquering 
faith and for the everlasting joy of blessedness. 

We have seen the Lord again when the hours of 
sorrow had passed, and we have felt His presence 
among us. 

God made everything right in order to preserve 
our life eternal. 



THE MIRACLE IN OUR AGE 

(Acts 26, 8) 

^HE miracle! 

-*■ Well, who believes in it nowadays? If it had 
been five hundred years ago, it might have been dif- 
ferent, but in our educated age — no, we know better 
now! Science has spoken with the assurance of an 
expert and said : No miracles happen ! Everything 
adheres to certain stringent laws; our researches 
have proved this, and the miracle has never existed 
except in the brains of undeveloped ignorant indi- 
viduals. 

Nevertheless we maintain in the church of the 
Lord that the miracle is a fact — as concrete a reality 
as was — the French revolution. The miracle does 
not thrive on the recognition of science, nor does it 
collapse before the shots which science fires against 
it. But when we maintain this, some people pity- 
ingly shrug their shoulders or smile haughtily while 
they sneer: How backward j^ou people are! You 
certainly are not well posted in regard to the de- 
velopment and the intelligence of the age. 

Let us see if speech of this kind cannot be effec- 
tively met so that we as Christians may retain 
our faith and still be developed and intelligent 
people. 

105 



io6 A Christmas Gift 



I. The Miracle and Nature 

If we ask infidel science how everything orig- 
inated, it answers: Through evolution! The world 
has developed during millions of years. But if we 
ask further: Whence and from what? You your- 
selves claim that nothing originates in nothing, then 
this world must, according to your own postulates, 
have originated in something, for your own funda- 
mental claim is that it cannot have risen out of 
nothingness. 

To this the general answer is that perhaps there 
was a small beginning, a protoplasm from which all 
things grew. But if there has been such a proto- 
plasm, it certainly is an unprecedented miracle. 
Never at any later time has anyone beheld such a 
protoplasm through which an entire world arose, and 
in that case all existence is based upon a miracle. 
This has only been assigned to as remote a time as 
possible, and even though one had not freed himself 
of the miracle, it was not irritatingly present as a 
constant probability in the evolution of the world. 
For, to admit that an Almighty God created every- 
thing from the very beginning is synonymous with 
admitting the fact of the mircle as a constant prob- 
ability. It is impossible for us to conceive that the 
Almighty at the time of the Creation should have 
so exhausted His powers that He now faces His 
creations as one who is utterly powerless. If His 
omnipotence made all things, then He must still 
be able, through that very omnipotence, to interfere, 
to mend and to increase, because in His wisdom He 



The Miracle in Our Age 107 

realizes that it so serves the promotion of his eternal 
plans. 

Yes, but the miracle is contrary to nature, it is 
said. 

Let us see ! When Jesus at the marriage at Cana 
in Galilee turned water into wine, a miracle hap- 
pened, and many believed in Him. 

Water into wine! Is that really contrary to na- 
ture? Is it not the very same thing that happens 
in nature every summer when the water of the soil 
is absorbed into the tender roots of the vine and 
passes through its branches, finally becoming wine 
in the grapes? The turning of water into wine is 
no change which rests upon violation of the laws 
of nature. In nature this happens in accordance 
with those plans which are the guiding laws of the 
powers of nature. At Cana in Galilee it happened 
in another way, but the same thing was accom- 
plished: Water became wine! There is unity in 
the achievement. Is there not also an inner har- 
mony between the powers working according to 
plans and laws in nature, and those which work 
untrammeled through the miracle? I think that we 
here are facing a unity in those powers — a relation- 
ship as intimate as between the Father and His only 
begotten Son who rests in His arms. And when 
we witness other miracles in which this unity be- 
comes invisible to us, I certainly do not think it is 
because the unity is absent, but just because we are 
too shortsighted to perceive it. But then the miracle 
is, after all, not contrary to nature when looked at 
profoundly. 



108 A Christmas Gift 

But the miracle is in conflict with the immutable 
laws of nature, it is said. 

Let us mention an instance. I fetch a silver dol- 
lar and throw it up in the air. According to the 
law of gravity, which is one of the immutable laws 
of nature, it falls toward the ground, but by a firm 
resolve and by the strength in my arm I may catch 
it and hold it in the air. 

What happens then? Is the law of nature vio- 
lated, or is it rendered ineffective? By no means! 
But another unit of power appears which in this case 
is strong enough to hold the dollar in the air in 
spite of the fact that the law of nature acts upon 
it with its power in order to lead it earthwards. 
By my firm resolve and by the strength in my arm 
something else happens than if I had not inter- 
fered. 

Yes, you say, such an insignificant thing as a coin 
anyone may keep in the air. It is different when we 
speak about the immense system of the universe. 
But — do you know whether or not the entire uni- 
verse with its countless astral bodies weigh more in 
the hands of the Almighty than a silver dollar in 
mine? I do not believe it. Then, what you and 1 
may do on a small scale, God Almighty may do on 
the larger scale without annihilating the laws of na- 
ture. They act as usual, each according to its own 
plan, but God Almighty may interfere and cause 
that something else will happen than would other- 
wise have happened, in spite of the fact that the 
laws gi nature retain their entire power. 

Finally it is said that miracle is contrary to our 
experience. 



The Miracle in Our Age 109 

Let us imagine an old sailor a couple of hundred 
years ago. Through more than a generation he had 
steered his vessel sometimes aided by wind and cur- 
rents, sometimes against them. If he were told that 
a ship might be steered straight against the wind 
and the currents without sails, without cruising, 
without oar strokes, he would have uttered a fierce 
sailors' oath that such a story was a lie — wild imag- 
ination ! No, he knew by experience what was the 
power of the wind and the currents, and he had been 
struggling ever so gallantly against those very pow- 
ers of the sea — no, no — don't tell me stories like 
that ! You may be able to find some unexperienced 
people who will believe tales of that kind, but I 
know better. 

Meanwhile we all know nowadays that the proud 
vessels sail steadily against wind and currents with- 
out canvas sails, without cruising manoeuvres and 
without oar strokes. What is the reason for this? 
Are wind and currents adhering to other laws in 
our days, or has their effect been changed? No, 
not at all ! But the old salt thought that his experi- 
ence was exhaustive in this special field. It all re- 
quired a power which he did not know, and in whose 
existence he did not believe. 

The attitude of the unbelieving science in our 
age toward the miracle is exactly like this. It has 
emitted many a droll sailor's oath to affirm that 
the miracle is contrary to its experience — and with 
the very same justification as did the sailor. We 
all need being reminded that human experience is 
very^very limited. It embraces such a small frac- 
tion of the universe, and it is not inclined to concede 



HO A Christmas Gift 

its limitations. The handicap of science is that of 
the sailor. In order to steer his ship right against 
wind and currents a power was required which he 
did not know and in whose existence he would not 
believe. In order to let the miracle happen, a power 
is required of which science, as such, does not know 
and in whose existence it refuses to believe. 

How many unbelieving physicians have not sworn 
as drastically as did the sailor, that they could not 
share the Christian faith in resurrection? The 
physician says like the sailor: I know better — don't 
tell me stories! I have seen too often how that 
pumping machinery in the human body which is 
called heart, comes to a stop, and when the heart 
ceases beating, the eye is extinguished, and the body 
approaches the process of dissolution. Don't tell 
me anything about the resurrection of the dead. It 
is contrary to my experience. — And yet, all that is 
required in order to make this possible, is a power 
which he does not know, and in whose existence he 
will not believe. 

He who was powerful enough to turn dust into 
man from the beginning, certainly is powerful 
enough to revivify that dust. 

The existence of this power is recognized, and has 
been experienced, in the church of the Lord. But, 
here we stop by asserting that that miracle in nature 
means that God works in other ways than those 
determined by the plans and laws of nature. It is 
the very same power of God that works through the 
miracle as through nature restrained by laws. 



The Miracle in Our Age in 



2. The Miracle and the Church of the Lord 

If, then, we leave the sphere of nature for that of 
the church to seek an expression of the power which 
is working here, we find one formed by Paul the 
apostle: The power of the resurrection of Jesus 
Christ. 

But as God's power in nature chiefly acts accord- 
ing to certain laws and plans, unheeding them only 
now and then — so does the power of His Son in the 
church. It acts regularly, determined by laws and 
order, and unrestrained only now and then. In this 
there is, in both cases, a very great blessedness to be 
found. We have been created to abide by condi- 
tions which are determined by well-defined plans 
and laws, and we would be seriously troubled by 
being the objects of merely arbitrary and unre- 
strained powers. 

When Jesus made bread for the hungry multitude 
in the desert, it happened through the free interfer- 
ence of powers — not in accordance with accepted 
laws and plans. But now suppose that the farmer 
were to expect bread in this manner — that certainly 
w^ould lead him into a painful state of doubt: He 
had not sown his seed in the spring, for he was sure 
a miracle would be wrought so that the crop would 
be ready by harvest time. Summer elapsed and he 
looked anxiously for the miracle which was to bring 
him the crop. According to the ways of human 
thinking it lasted too long before the miracle hap- 
pened! WTiat painful restlessness and uncertainty! 
No, there is greater surety and satisfaction in the 
order predicated upon laws, that seedtime and har- 



112 A Christmas Gift 

vest shall not cease, and that whatsoever a man 
soweth, that shall he reap. 

But as God thus has endowed nature with His 
power so as to make it adopt certain laws with the 
end in view that man's worldly existence shall be 
based thereon, so Christ has endowed His church 
with the power of resurrection which works through 
His institutions according to laws, and upon this 
action, regulated and determined by laws, rests the 
existence of Christians. By doing so He has not, 
however, exhausted Himself or confined Himself so 
as to make it impossible for Him to work through 
other methods, but we are restrained even as are 
those means through which the power of His resur- 
rection comes to us. 

It would be wrong on the part of the farmer to 
demand that bread should be made in any other 
way than that which God has designed for its pro- 
duction from the soil — and it would be just as 
wrong on the part of Christians to demand miracles. 
We must abide by the church in which the power of 
the resurrection of Jesus Christ acts, regulated and 
law-restrained , at the baptismal font and com- 
munion, upon all those who will choose the right 
attitude toward them. 

But has not the miracle, this unrestrained action 
of the powers, disappeared from the church? Mir- 
acles do not happen nowadays as in the time of the 
apostles. 

People are often heard to speak like this, and here 
we must first of all call attention to the fact that 
one period in the history of the church may be pro- 
fuse in miracles while the other is devoid of them. 



The Miracle in Our Age 1 13 

It does not go according to our desires and thoughts, 
but according to what the Lord in His wisdom 
deems well for the fulfillment of His eternal 
thoughts. Furthermore, our age is not in a very re- 
ceptive mood for the "miracle" — it might face the 
strange things gapingly instead of believingly ac- 
cepting the "miracle" as a "miracle" and give God 
the glory therefor. Yet I am convinced that the un- 
restrained interference of powers has not ceased in 
our age, but it takes place only according to the 
counsel of the Lord, and where receptivity is pres- 
ent. Nowadays, this applies especially in heathen 
lands and in secret where the faithful pray and re- 
ceive unseen by the eyes of the world. 

But, in this connection, I would call attention to 
the following: The greatest miracle is not that 
some sick person may be restored to health, or freed 
of some bodily weakness, but that I, the sinner that 
I am, may be resurrected in spirit, soul and body, 
in accordance with the eternal thoughts of glory of 
God. This miracle is a thousand times greater 
than that which took place at the door of the tem- 
ple when Peter said to him who was lame from his 
mother's womb: "Rise up and walk!" For this 
does not apply to a certain part of the body nor to 
certain bodily weaknesses, but to the entire being 
with all its weaknesses. This is the greatest miracle 
of all, and it takes place until the very end of time 
within the church of the Lord. 

Here we truly have reason for saying: Praise 
be to God that we are not expected to look for the 
unrestrained interference of the powers for the sake 
of the restitution of our entire being, but that we 



H4 A Christmas Gift 

can adhere to the regulated, law-restrained acts of 
the powers, fully convinced that the good work 
which is thus begun shall be completed in this man- 
ner, in spite of the devil and in spite of death. 

The power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ 
does not work here in the same way as in the case 
of the resurrection of Lazarus; for there it acted 
unrestrainedly and visibly, even to the unbelieving 
Jewish people. Here it works invisibly, but none 
the less tangibly, and a far greater goal is to be 
attained. I am not to be resurrected like Lazarus to 
once more live under conditions of sin, and to once 
more face death. I am to be resurrected from death 
and from the conditions of sin wholly prepared to be 
at home in the halls of Heaven. In order to achieve 
this I am not to look for sensations and move- 
ments in bluish dimness, but to adhere faithfully to 
the regulated, law-restrained acts of the powers 
within the church of the Lord.- 

It is in the faith in this action of the powers that 
we are, with Paul the apostle, to look forward to 
the resurrection of all things. I do not think that 
through the power of the resurrection of Jesus 
Christ all things are to be restored to the extent, 
as some have thought, that even the devil himself 
is to enter into the kingdom of God and become 
a leader of angels as he had been before; nor do 
I think that the godless and the infidels will be 
placed among the Godfearing and the faithful in 
the Kingdom of Heaven without repentance and 
faith. But I do believe for a certainty that all 
things are to be restored according to the eternal 



The Miracle in Our Age 115 

design of God in which the power of the resurrec- 
tion of Jesus Christ is allowed to act. And for 
that we are yearning within the church. 

But nature also yearns; that, too, is subject to 
corruption. That, too, shall be freed of the thral- 
dom of corruption into the glorious freedom of the 
children of God. When the power of the resur- 
rection of Jesus Christ has penetrated nature, then 
it will appear as the new earth in which justice 
abideth. But just as man must pass through death, 
through perdition, humanly seen, so the ancient 
earth must pass through death and perdition, and 
the scripture testifies with equal firmness in the 
case of both, that man must die and the earth must 
perish. 

Then the great miracle has happened that every- 
where in the life of man and in nature where the 
power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ is work- 
ing, the restoration of all things has taken place, 
and the rest has been completely segregated from 
us so that it no longer may tempt or ensnare us. 
All bonds have broken. The miracle has been 
accomplished in its entire extent in accordance with 
the counsel of the wisdom of God — that miracle 
which was begun when the only begotten Son of 
God was conceived by a woman — that miracle 
which, as far as you are concerned, took place 
when He was conceived within you at the sacred 
moment of baptism. 

It is said about the miracle of Jesus at Cana that 
it was a token, and that may be said about all the 
miracles of the Lord. But, of what are they tokens? 



II 6 A Christmas Gift 

Of the fact that His power can couquer every- 
where, in nature, in the life of mankind, and in the 
spiritual zvorld. 

Tokens of His mastery of nature were witnessed 
at the marriage at Cana where He turned water 
into wine; when He stilled the storm on Genne- 
saret lake; and when He filled the nets of the 
fishermen: In the life of mankind when blind 
became seeing; deaf became hearing; the lame 
walked and the dead arose: In the spiritual world 
when Jesus drove the evil spirits away from those 
who had become obsessed by them — indeed, even 
the prince of the evil spirtis, the devil, was forced 
to yield defeated. All these are tokens that the 
power of Jesus Christ can do everything, can mas- 
ter anything from the deep of the sea to the highest 
arch of the sky, and that it is capable of attaining 
victory in the struggle with principalties and 
powers, with the spiritual hosts of evil beneath the 
sky. 

But these tokens, furthermore, are small begin- 
nings of the restoration and when they have been 
perfected, everywhere and all-inclusive, then that 
new Heaven and that new earth where justice dwell- 
eth, has become a fact. 

God is the God of order. Therefore we find 
plans, system and laws in nature as well as in the 
church. It has been given especially to our own 
age to realize this so that an expression like "the 
law of nature in the spiritual world" has been 
recognized. Science has perceived this regulated, 
law-restrained order of things in nature as keenly 
as never before, but, alas, it became dizzy thereat. 



The Miracle in Our Age 117 

Otherwise it would have exclaimed even as Paul 
did : O, world of wisdom and power ! Who would 
have known how to plan thus? Who would have 
the strength to subdue and master the giant powers? 
In the church of the Lord we respond: God the 
Almighty Father, the creator of Heaven and earth! 



An atheist was lecturing at a village in England 
and ended by self-confidently inviting the audience 
to take part in a discussion. 

Then an old woman, her back bent with the 
weariness of life and years, arose, saying: 

"Sir, I have a question to ask you?" 

"All right, my good woman," the atheist an- 
swered, "what is it then?" 

"Ten years ago I was left a widow with eight 
unsupported children. I had nothing but a Bible, 
but by following its directions and by believing in 
God I have been enabled to support my dear ones 
and myself. I am now approaching the grave, but 
I am perfectly happy, for I am looking forward 
to an eternally blessed life with Jesus. My faith 
has done this for me: What has your way of think- 
ing done for youT' 

"Well, well, my good woman," the atheist said, 
"please, understand me right — I have no desire to 
disrupt your happiness, but " 

"O, that wasn't the question at all," the old 
woman interrupted — "don't beat about the bush, 
but tell us : What has your atheism done for you?" 

Once more the atheist tried to evade the ques- 



n8 A Christmas Gift 

tion, but the audience applauded the old woman so 
vigorously that he felt it necessary to withdraw, 
defeated by a woman who, during a life of hard- 
ships, had experienced the power and the blessed- 
ness of Christianity. 



The late Dr. Ahlfeld in Leipsic once said in his 
final address to a class of children about to be con- 
firmed : 

"Infidels will shake their heads at your faith. 
They will speak of their unbelief as progress. They 
will tell you that progress has been made in every- 
thing, and they will ask you why you then should 
abide by the ancient faith. Then you shall answer: 
The ancient sun has shone for thousands of years, 
and no one can give us one that is better. We make 
no progress by rejecting it but by learning how to 
make better use of its rays. Thus, also, with Christ. 
He shines through all ages as the Sun of mankind. 
He is the very same today and tomorrow and in all 
infinity, and it is not progress to reject Him. We 
must learn how to make increasingly better use of 
the rays of His grace. That, children, is our prog- 



ress: 



AMERICA— YOU ARE THE HOPE OF 
THE WORLD TODAY ! 

May, 1919 

John 8, 36: If, therefore, the Son shall make 
you free, ye shall be free indeed. 
Acts 22, 28: But I was free born. 

T1THEN Paul had been imprisoned at Jerusalem 
* * the chief captain ordered that he is to be 
scourged in an effort to make him tell the truth. 
Paul then asks: "Is it lawful to scourge a man 
that is a Roman?" The chief captain asks whether 
he is a Roman, and Paul says that he is. The chief 
captain goes on to say: "With a great sum obtained 
I this freedom," but Paul answers: "I was free 
born." It is a question of the right of free men in 
ancient Rome. 

Under the ancient Porcian law which was later 
restored by the Sempronic, no Roman citizen might 
be scourged, and anyone who violated the Roman 
civil laws, was liable to a punishment which in- 
volved the loss of property and life. Of this, we 
realize how deeply treasured civil liberty and rights 
were in ancient Rome. The right of free men 
might not be assailed. 

It is about this right that the chief captain says: 
"With a great sum obtained I this freedom!" But 
119 



120 A Christmas Gift 

Paul answers frankly and proudly: "I was free 
born !" It is an heritage from my fathers. 

Thus the young generation in America may say: 
We were born into civil liberty. It is an heritage 
from the fathers. We have obtained it at no ex- 
pense of our own. But the fathers of '76 bought 
it with their blood. When they fought under the 
command of George Washington, they endangered 
their very lives in order to win this liberty. Many 
sacrificed their lives. Indeed, it was dearly bought ! 
When the Declaration of Independence was signed, 
Franklin exclaimed: "Now we all will have to 
hang together, otherwise we will hang separately." 

But in i860 the Star Spangled Banner waved 
above the heads of more slaves than there were 
inhabitants in the country at the time of the sign- 
ing of the Declaration of Independence. So, for 
the second time America was plunged into a strug- 
gle for liberty for the purpose of making the Star 
Spangled Banner the true flag of the free. The 
spirit of '76 could not acquiesce in slavery. And 
through Abraham Lincoln it entered into a covenant 
with the great, all-embracing and deeply sympa- 
thetic heart — a heart so great that it could enfold 
the North and the South — so sympathetic that it 
was able to embrace white and colored people alike, 
friend as well as foe. This was the great heart 
that led America through the days of the Civil 
War — fortunately for this country. 

It was this heart that beat in the breast of Lin- 
coln when he as a 22-year old man down in New 
Orleans saw how human beings were sold in the 
same way as we nowadays sell cattle. Man and 



America — You Are the Hope of the World 121 

wife were sold to separate buyers and parted never 
to meet again — parted while they wept as though 
the heart should burst. Then young Lincoln raised 
his hand toward heaven vowing: "By the eternal 
God, if ever I get a chance to hit that thing, I will 
strike it and strike it hard." This was the Lincoln 
who led in the Civil War. The man with the 
great heart was equipped as no one else to win the 
victory, to maintain the union of North and South 
and to gain freedom for the Negroes. It was he 
who said, when victory was an accomplished fact, 
that he would continue the fight for the rights of 
man without hesitation, "with malice toward none, 
with charity to all." 

But since the days of the Civil War America has 
gained a wealth which no other country has ever 
possessed. You young people are born to claim that, 
too. 

Our youth was born to wealth and to inherit the 
forefathers of J y6 as well as Lincoln, the man with 
the great heart. 

It is, indeed, great to be born to all these things. 
But it is not easy. It requires a strong and alert 
youth to make the right use of such treasures. 

Added to this it must be remembered that Amer- 
ica after the Civil War was reckoned with as one 
of the Great Powers. When problems of world 
significance were to be settled, the question was 
asked: What does America say about it? 

Came then the great world war. America stayed 
out as long as possible. The world began to reckon 
less with us than before. Germany even thought 
she could sneer at us with impunity. 



122 A Christmas Gift 

How was that? Was it a matter of distance 
only? No, in Germany the belief prevailed that 
the spirit of '76, and the heart of Lincoln s day had 
died within the bosom of young America. At all 
events, it was not inclusive enough to span the 
great ocean and to sympathize with those who were 
suppressed and suffering yonder. It was with young 
America as with the wild animals caught and put 
into a cage: They are led into a life of ease and 
indolence; they lose their strength, their elasticity 
and their power of propagation. In brief : Ease and 
indolence kill them! 

Similarly, it was thought prosperity had killed 
the spirit of '76 and the all-embracing heart of Lin- 
coln in the youth of America, and under those cir- 
cumstances there could be no danger that American 
youth would enter the great world war where pros- 
perity and all kinds of comfort and ease were to 
to sacrificed and life itself be risked. 

Miss Grace C. Bostwick writes in The Pagan: 

O America! 

They said you were young and crude and extrava- 
gant, 
And that your women were too free and open ; 
That your children had no respect for age; 
And that you gave no thought to the past. 
They said you had no artistic sense 
And accused you of setting up an altar 

To the almighty Dollar 

O America! 

And they smiled when your name was mentioned. 



America — You Are the Hope of the World 123 

But yesterday 

There marched an army down the street, 

An army of brave-eyed men with boyish mouths, 

Straight-backed and proud in their new-found mis- 
sion — 

The saving of the world! 

And yesterday . . . somewhere ... at sea 

A white face floated 

With empty eyes upturned to an unseeing sky. 

And yesterday ... in a barren field ... a mere 
boy fell from his perilous work on high — 

While great ships heavy with sustenance 

Plow stolidly through the deep . . . 

O America! 

You are the Hope of the World today. 

Germany had made a miscalculation; the spirit 
of '76 was not dead in young America, neither was 
the great heart of Lincoln. Prosperity had not 
been able to kill them. When the suppressed really 
needed America, our youth heeded the summons. 
With firm footsteps, with eyes afire, they went away 
into the great fight. I do not know whether they 
vowed as did the young Lincoln, but I do know 
that when they arrived at the battlefield, they 
struck, and struck hard — so hard, indeed, that the 
tyrant succumbed. And well may we say about 
that right of free men which was won by American 
participation: It was dearly bought by you — who 
never came back. 

It is said that the French government in July, 
19 1 8, had decided to order the evacuation of Paris, 



124 A Christmas Gift 

but when General Pershing heard this, he tele- 
graphed a request to postpone the carrying out of 
the order until his soldiers had entered into active 
fighting. Then came the turning point. Our sol- 
diers brought it about, and victory was won. 

But a new element has entered into the history 
of the war — into the relations among nations. It is 
the word of Jesus: "Therefore all things whatso- 
ever ye would that men should do to you, do ye 
even so to them." Never before has this maxim 
been accepted as the Golden Rule governing inter- 
national relations. President Wilson has repeated 
it time and again, and it characterized our participa- 
tion in the war, even to the extent that our country 
has paid for the damages made to French soil when 
our soldiers dug their trenches. And this was but 
right. America did not enter the war with the 
intention of conquering or destroying one hair- 
breadth of ground. So we are justified in saying 
to Germany: You must pay for what you have de- 
stroyed, to the best of your ability. 

"Whatsoever ye would that men should do to 
you, do ye even so to them!" By this we have 
arrived at something new. Our participation in the 
war constituted a great sacrifice of lives and money 
without any expectation of indemnity of any kind. 
But in this we find something of the redemption 
from the thraldom of greediness — something of that 
freedom to which Jesus will guide mankind. But 
that freedom is won only by the aid of the spirit 
of the Lord. And it seems to me that the spirit 
of '76 and the heart of Lincoln have entered into 



America — You Are the Hope of the World 125 

a covenant with, and have shown a willingness to 
be guided by, the spirit of the Lord. 

Where the youth of America marches forward 
to fight in accordance with the spirit of Jf /6 and with 
the great heart of Lincoln, guided by the spirit of 
the Lord, it is an unconquerable army and will 
always carry home the victory. 

With Lincoln we can say: Victory is won, but 
the fight is to be continued without hesitation, with 
malice toward none, with charity to all. 

I believe that America is destined to lead the 
nations of the world in the future, but if this is to 
succeed rightly, then our youth must make it clear 
to itself that it faces the choice between the altar 
of the living God and the altar of the almighty 
Dollar. For which of these will you young people 
spend your strength? At which of these altars will 
you pray and praise? The eyes of everyone look 
toward America as never before: "O, America! 
You are the Hope of the World today!" Is this 
truth to remain? It depends on you, young men 
and women — depends on your choice of altars. 

Once upon a time there was a man who was per- 
mitted to wish whatever he wanted, and his wish 
would be granted. But he was to wish only once. 
Finally he made up his mind to wish that everything 
he touched would turn to gold. First he touched 
the door post. It turned to gold. He rubbed his 
hands delightedly: What a nice big piece of gold! 
It certainly was fine that his wish was as sensible 
as this! Then he started to wash himself, but the 
water turned to gold. That wasn't quite as delight- 



126 A Christmas Gift 

fill, but he let that pass. After that he sat down 
to eat, but the food turned to gold. He then real- 
ized that the fulfillment of his highest wish would 
lead him into certain death. 

Likewise there are people in America who wish 
that everything they touch turn to gold. The result 
of everything they do is to be converted into gold: 
We name them profiteers. They kneel before the 
shrine of the almighty Dollar. But this means cer- 
tain death to the spirit of '76 and to the deeply 
sympathetic heart of Lincoln, and the spirit of the 
Lord expires through this worship of gold. They 
think of themselves only. They are enslaved by the 
fetters of greediness. They refuse to do to others 
what they wish others should do to them. Are they 
to get the upper hand ? It is for you, young people, 
to answer! The future of America lies in your 
hands. What is your choice? 

Professor Georg Fr. Nicolai of the University 
of Berlin during the war gave expression to thoughts 
of such a nature that he was forced to flee from 
Germany to Denmark. It was there that he in 
October, 19 18, wrote as follows: 

"There are times in the history of mankind when 
we dare not put new wine into old bottles (Mar. 
2, 22). We require new wine, new bottles, new 
thoughts and new men. In order to give the peo- 
ples of the earth faith, an inner awakening is 
required. The Bible speaks of it as repentance. 
. . . Less pathetically we moderns refer to it as 
the new adjustment. But no matter what name we 
bestow upon it, it stands to reason that without an 
awakening no new life can be produced. . . . 



America — You Are the Hope of the World 127 

The process of dissolution is so far advanced that 
today the Biblical word has become true: Only he 
who giveth his life, shall keep it. ... A new 
spirit must be inculcated in the peoples." 

A new spirit must be inculcated in the peoples! 
That is the decisive factor for the happiness and 
the health of the nations in the future. Political 
spirit of liberty is not enough. Inspired by that you 
may fight and conquer and — set your foot upon the 
neck of the foe. No, a new spirit is needed. It is 
that spirit which, redeeming, speaks through the 
words of the Lord: "Whatsoever ye would that 
men should do to you, do ye even so to them !" 
That's the task that confronts you young people. It 
may not possess the tension and the excitement of 
the battlefield — it may not, perhaps, let you directly 
feel that you are taking part in the solution of the 
great problems of the world's history — it is, never- 
theless, THE very greatest task of the world. Here 
we must be impelled by the spirit of God. 

It is related about Samson how "the spirit of the 
Lord came mightily upon him." But while the 
beginning was good, the end was sad, for at last 
he was driven only by lust. Therefore he was of 
little blessing. He ended by representing mere 
brute force and no more. 

I have seen the glow of the spirit in the eyes of 
the young when they went to war. In the beginning 
they were moved by the spirit of the Lord. Now 
the task is to continue in that spirit and thus con- 
tinuously to remain "the Hope of the World" — not 
to end in materialism and as representing no more 
than brute force. 



128 A Christmas Gift 

America is wealthy enough, strong enough, to 
attain a leading position in the ranks of the nations 
— to enjoy an age of greatness as did Germany. 
But in that case the collapse is sure. It is but a 
short distance ahead. We will have to face it — 
as Germany now has faced defeat. 

Germany had been saturated with Darwinism. 
Looked at from one point of view, it is an emphasis 
placed upon brute force and upon the survival of 
the fittest. Added to this came the materialism 
which laid stress upon the values of what was 
materialistic and mechanical at the cost of the soul. 
The nation grew great and strong. But man be- 
came petty and insignificant. No nation has ever 
possessed such a wonderful and perfect mechanical 
development as that which Germany had reached 
when the war broke out. On the strength of that, 
the dominion of the world was to be won. But 
here, too, the words of the Lord apply : "For what 
is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, 
and lose his own soul?" (Mat. 16, 26). What 
profited it Germany that she possessed her soul-less 
mechanical attainments, even though they were ever 
so wonderful and marvelous? What would it have 
profited Germany to have gained the whole world 
when she would lose her soul thereby? No, then 
the great defeat certainly was to be preferred. 
Through that Germany may recover her lost soul. 
If ever any new adjustment was needed, it is there. 
A new spirit must be inculcated in the people. 

But what would it profit America if she won the 
rank of a leader among nations through her strength 
and wealth? Nothing at all. The great collapse 



America — You Are the Hope of the World 129 



would be only a short distance ahead. Before or 
later we would succumb to it. 

Still I believe that America possesses the qualifica- 
tions for leadership as no other nation in history 
does — the leadership of that new adjustment which 
the world must needs experience if life shall ever 
again become sufierable upon this old earth of ours. 

Why is it that America has superior qualifica- 
tions? Has not England the very same qualifica- 
tions? Are not the English the great commercial 
nation which embraces the earth with its count- 
less ships? Or France — that liberty-loving nation 
with its technically wonderfully developed lan- 
guage? Now when everything settles down again, 
will not these nations be able to assume the leading 
position in the history of the world just as well as 
America ? 

No. — And I will attempt to explain why they 
cannot. 

America has been created through a mingling of 
all the peoples of the world, as it were. It is true 
that some claim all the rogues and scoundrels of 
the Old World came over here — and some of them 
undoubtedly did. But it is not they who have built 
up America and made her great and strong. Nor 
is it those people of whom it requires twelve to 
make a dozen — for that species generally dies where 
it was born. 

No, they who built America were men and 
women who possessed the great daring and that 
strength of the will which were necessary in order 
to carry them across great stretches of water and 
land, to make them fell the vast forests and break 



130 A Christmas Gift 

the prairie soil, and to build their homes in the 
woods and upon the prairies. These are the people 
who built America — who made the country great 
and strong and wealthy. 

Many have feared that the daring and the 
strength of will of the fathers had died. The 
younger generation had too markedly become a 
candy, kid-glove, silkstockinged youth. But yonder 
on the great battlefield it found an opportunity to 
show that it still possessed the daring and the 
strength of will of the fathers. Once General 
Pershing had to retire his troops one mile. It was 
reported to headquarters, and the reply came back: 
"Push your men a little farther back and let them 
rest!" But by that time General Pershing already 
was preparing to storm forward again. And so 
unexpectedly swift and vigorous was the attack that 
not only was the lost mile regained, but one in addi- 
tion. It was the daring of the American soldiers 
that won in this instance. And, speaking generally, 
it must have been the daring and the strength of 
will of the American soldier that conquered the 
mechanism of the German army. 

The daring and the strength of will of the fathers 
still live on in the young generation: It is a con- 
tribution from all the peoples of the earth which 
no other individual nation can boast — and it is one 
of these very qualifications which make it possible 
for America to lead upon the great stage of his- 
tory. 

But, in this respect it is of still greater impor- 
tance that America by receiving this contribution 
from all the peoples of the earth has developed a 



America — You Are the Hope of the World 131 

deep-seated and sincere feeling of community with 
all nations. Through the Irishmen here, America 
is in close contact with Ireland, through the Poles 
with Poland, through the Bohemians with Bohemia, 
through the Danes with Denmark, and so on. This 
adds to the qualifications which fit America for 
assuming the part of the leader in the progress of 
the world, and is in itself a qualification which no 
other country at any time has ever had, and which 
no other country most likely will ever have at any 
time in the future. There is no nation in the 
world which has such a vivid and natural con- 
sciousness of community with as many peoples as 
has America. And this is of unprecedented impor- 
tance. For that nation which is to lead the world 
during the period of readjustment which the world 
so sorely needs, must do so, not through power and 
wealth, but through a deep-seated sympathy and a 
readiness and ability, born of that sympathy, to 
lead the many nations forward to something better 
— to a higher and nobler national life so that they 
will strive to live according to the words of the 
Lord: "Whatsoever ye would that men should do 
to you, do ye even so to them." 

But America loses this unique qualification for 
leadership among the nations, on the day when 
the multitudinous languages spoken here die. There- 
fore, the great question is whether or not progress 
in this respect is to lead into that narrowmindedness 
which kills the many tongues. Or, will the develop- 
ment favor a retention of the native languages of 
the various nationalities here together with Eng- 
lish? English is the great common language of 



132 A Christmas Gift 

America — the principal language which must be 
learned by the immigrants. This is so obviously 
a matter of fact that it really should be unnecessary 
to allude to it. But, in addition, every nationality 
should be allowed to retain its native language in 
order to ensure for America the preservation of that 
deep-seated natural sympathy with the many peoples 
created by God — "of one blood all nations of men." 
The American nation is related to all other nations. 
It therefore has the qualification for understanding 
them and for encouraging the feeling of brother- 
hood among them which no other nation ever has 
had, and which any other individual nation most 
likely never will have. 

The history of the world is like one great and 
magnificent epic. Each nation constitutes a song 
in the poem. England has its own song — France 
has its own, and so forth. America has its own 
great hymn, but, in addition a large number of 
little songs, each has its own particular rhythm 
derived from the manifold living languages spoken 
here, and they add richness and volume to the 
mighty chorus. 

Let me use another simile: We all know the 
Mississippi River. It runs from a point 'way up 
in the remote northwest, winds its way east and 
south until finally it releases its immense masses 
of water into the great sea. How does the river 
get these immense masses of water? The answer 
is that on its way it absorbs one little rivulet after 
another. Humming and rippling from cheerful 
little wells here and there they come, and every 
little rivulet, no matter how pitifully small and 



America — You Are the Hope of the World 133 

insignificant it may look, helps the Mississippi to 
become the great river which carries its tremendous 
volume of water to the sea. 

Likewise, the American language is the great 
river which receives its cheerful additions from the 
many smaller living languages. Each springs from 
its own particular source, singing its own particular 
tune, and each language makes its own little con- 
tribution in order to make the American language 
powerful and great and to give it that wonderful 
volume which enables it to run into the great sea, 
of the life of nations carrying with it a blessing of 
wealth like no other language. And the many 
individual peoples will, when they hear the English 
language spoken from America, feel that it com- 
prises such a strange richness and volume as they 
are unable to find elsewhere. Indeed, it is almost 
as though they would hear the American people 
address them in their own respective language — 
that "wherein they were born" (Acts 2, 9). 

Ah, you young generation! Behold this — and 
understand it! You are born not merely into the 
wealth of your land and to take up the heritage 
of your fathers. But you are destined for a glorious 
future, for a future achievement so great and mag- 
nificent that no young generation in any other 
country has ever seen the like. 

You, young man, and you, young woman — you 
have been chosen to draw the strength and vitality 
of life from a multitude of small wells within your 
own field and to derive such sustenance from them 
that you can form your lives beautifully and 
harmoniously. And you have been chosen, in the 



134 A Christmas Gift 

spirit of brotherhood, to lead such a current of pure 
thoughts and elevated ideals to all the peoples of the 
earth in such a manner as to cause them to wonder- 
ingly ask: How is all this? We hear them speak 
the American tongue, and yet it is as though we 
hear them speak to us in our own language — in 
that <r wherein ive were horn." It sounds just as 
home-like and peculiarly attractive as our own — 
because it has been enriched by many tongues. And 
the vital richness and fulness which it carries to 
them has gained from the fact that we here have 
had such a multitude of wells to draw from. 

Therefore we, who are older, bend our knees 
and pray as did David (Ps. 144, 12) : "That our 
sons may be as plants grown up in their youth : that 
our daughters may be as corner stones, polished 
after the similitude of a palace!" 

What we want — is this : Strong erect young men, 
sons of America, who perceive, with the clearness 
of the spirit, the problems of the future and who, 
with the red blood of youth coursing in their veins 
and the glow of enthusiasm lingering in their eyes, 
will take up the task of solving them. 

And, moreover: Pure and noble women: David 
had been looking at the corner stones that were to 
support that temple which was to be the tangible 
expression of Israel's ideal life, that of community 
with holy and just God : How beautiful they would 
be when they were polished — and how strong! In- 
deed, they were able to support that wonderful 
temple which was to be built to the glory of God. 
And then he has been thinking: O, Lord, give us 
women like these corner stones! Pure, noble, and 



America — You Are the Hope of the World 135 

strong women who can be the very foundation of 
the home-life of our country — and carry it into the 
community with God ! 

Paul the apostle writes in his epistle to the Philip- 
pians, 2, 5-1 1 : 

"Let this mind be in you, which was also in 
Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, 
thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but 
made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him 
the form of a servant, and was made in the like- 
ness of men, and being found in fashion as a man, 
He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto 
death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God 
hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name 
which is above every name, that at the name of 
Jesus every knee should bow, of things in Heaven, 
and things in earth, and things under the earth; 
and that every tongue should confess that Jesus 
Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." 

Jesus Christ won the name which is above every 
name because He served mankind as no one else had 
done, and gave His life for its sake. Thereby He 
became the Saviour of men — their great leader who 
can guide them into eternal life and blessedness. 
Thereby He also became the Lord to the glory of 
God the Father. 

During the war America gave herself to the 
service of mankind as did no other nation. There- 
fore the suppressed looked to America quietly im- 
ploring for aid, and therefore it might be said 
truthfully, especially in 191 8: "O, America, you 
are the Hope of the World today!" 

Now the question remains: Will America con- 



136 A Christmas Gift 

tinue to be the great, unselfish servant among the 
nations, above all others, leading them into the 
riddance of the thraldom of greediness, guided by 
the spirit of the Lord? Then — if she does— she 
will win a name above the names of all other 
nations, because she will be the great servant who 
shows the way to the highest ideals — to the pure, 
charitable and peaceful thoughts among nations 
in that national and human brotherhood for which 
God created them: Of one blood all nations of 
men. 

This I wish with all my heart. But it devolves 
upon you, young people, to answer. It devolves 
upon you to determine whether this will continue 
to be true: 

"America! You are the Hope of the World 
today !" 

God bless you, America! — God bless you with 
all your homes and with all your youth! 




wSSHSSf^ CONGRESS 



021 897 427 2 










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